Yesterday I spent most of day in the Brickell area. I led a Bible study, met with a core group member, met with my staff, a local community group leader and a music industry executive. In between the meetings I shook hands with city counsel members, introduced myself to a few local professionals and checked on the local real estate.

When we set out to start the Brickell site a month and a half ago, I confess that the attitude was one of launching a campus that looked and moved exactly like our main Pinecrest location. A few weeks into the gig my wife and I looked at each other while driving our way up for the Sunday night gathering and, in an unspoken way agreed that we have seen this movie before. The movie title is "church planting strikes back." If counted as a plant, this will be our fourth experience. Which means that by now we should have learned that church planting in order to be effective needs to be (3 things).

1. Missional. It has to operate out of need. You and your people have to know this and constantly be reminded that a church in that location is crucial for that area's gospel transformation. You and your team have to be reminded of this during the hardships that a church will always face. Without it (this sense of need to be missional) discouragement can easily creep in and destroy the vision. You and your people have to have a larger sense of purpose for being there other than just to grow your "enterprise." So, mission comes first.

2. Incarnational. One of the "duh" moments for me lately has been the "- of course they are a different crowd!" A few weeks in I've noticed that the people that live in Brickell operate differently than our South Miami/ Pinecrest/ Kendall crowd and because this is true, they respond differently. I have been reminded that there's always a need to adjust to the group you're trying to reach. This is called contextualization, and contextualization always follows mission.

3. Personal/ Relational. Call it one these two. Yesterday I was reminded that my team and I have to spend more time in Brickell with the people of Brickell. It's only through face to face time that you're able to contextualize the ministry to the people you're trying to reach. Through introductions and conversations you will see, taste and hear the sounds of their spiritual groanings and moanings. First, it's necessary to assess in order for you to address.

None of what I'm reminding you of in this post comes out of leadership books or church planting manuals alone. Look at the meta-narrative of Scripture and you will see God moving to our rescue in this exact fashion. In it, we see that the need of redemption propelled Jesus to identify with us sinners and to accommodate the language of salvation in a way that sinners would understand and respond.

Today is Easter Saturday 2010. In Latin America we call it "Sábado de Aleluia" which can be translated as Hallelujah Saturday.  Growing up I always questioned why they called it Hallelujah Saturday.  After all, if there was a sentiment that represented what Jesus' disciples were going through after the "raboni" was buried it would have to be despair. So, why not call it "Desperate Saturday"? That would go along better with what millions of Christians in Latin America have ritualized on this "Sábado de Aleluia": The lynching of Judas Iscariot.

It wasn't until recently that everything made sense to me.  The three days spent on accomplished salvation set the pace for salvation applied. Meaning, everything that Jesus went through in those three days to secure salvation for us should represent everything what we must go through in order to experience his salvation in us and for us. Here's the pattern his passion sets for us. Suffer - die - rest - be glorified.

On Thursday the Gospels tell us that Jesus grasped the deep reality of sin and sacrifice which brought him to despair. He wept, and sweat, and bled over our sins and then confessed his desire to Father to abandon the job last minute. At that moment, Jesus was taking sin very seriously.  So should we, if we are to receive the salvation God makes available to us in Jesus. Those to whom Jesus has secured salvation, will weep, and bleed, and experience despair over their hopeless condition. And most importantly, will confess their sins and see in Jesus the only possibility of rescue and absolution.

On Friday Jesus was crucified. He ascended the tree of Calvary to become the substitution for our sins. On the cross the Father's wrath brutally descended on the Son so that it would not descend on those to whom he was securing salvation for -- those he would latter call sons and daughters. As sun went down and the Son gave up his Spirit, we were justified and now able to be adopted into the family of the Trinity. Those to whom Jesus has secured salvation are called to look at the Cross and see their death vicariously lived out (or should I say died out) by Jesus. More importantly, they are called to die to self and to the sin that demanded their death.

Now we arrive on "Sábado de Alleluia". On Saturday there is silence in the text. In the soul there's despair and in the land there's rest. What an interesting tension huh? The disciples are observing the Shabbath while experiencing despair! Little did they know what "rabboni" had just done and was still doing for them. Jesus' body in the grave should represent REST for us. It should confront us with the anxieties that enslave us and the temptation that we have to still work for our absolution before God. Saturday is Hallelujah because it is a reminder that we can and should rest in Jesus. It's a reminder that there's nothing we can do. That is how we grow and are sanctified in the salvation he has accomplished for us. We are sanctified as we rest of our works (good ones) and as we stop looking for rest in other saviors.

Finally Sunday. The grave is empty and the master is walking in the garden beautiful and splendorous.  He has defeated our last enemy and for the next 40 days he gives us a preview of what life in kingdom will look like when "the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters covers the seas". It's what enables us to make sense of all that he did for us and unless there was resurrection there would be no sense in believing and living out this salvation. His salvation is accomplished at last and it is applied with hope.

So, suffer, die, rest and hope, because your glorification is coming.

Happy "Sábado de Alleluia".

It has got to be the third person in the last two weeks that has asked me about the existence of God in light of the tragedy in Haiti. The last words I heard before I walked out of that Starbucks were "How can a good god exist and allow these things to happen, a god like that has no place in this world". As I reflected upon what I judge to be an honest angry statement I was reminded of another episode just last week. It happened here at my own church during a presbytery meeting.

At that meeting a Haitian movement leader updated us of the situation in Port Au Prince in the aftermath of the 7.2 earthquake. At the occasion he said that the situation was much worse than what has been reported by the American TV networks. Out of his own suffering he shared the fact that he had lost 10 of his pastors, all of their church buildings and many of their church members. He said that there was no food, scarcity of gas to transport whatever supplies they could gather from the DR or other immediate towns, tons of orphans roaming the streets and a lot of violence. But in the midst of all the destruction around them the church remained strong. He said that every single night sounds of prayers and songs are heard through out the desolated streets of the city. That in the midst of immense suffering people are turning to God more than they are turning to nations and to other human beings.

Interesting. Here we have one of the greatest catastrophes of history and then we have two kinds of people. Those who are mere spectators and those who are living in it. On one side you have those, like myself that can drive into a Stbx and pay $4 for a cup of coffee and then go home and watch what's going on on TV and then you have those who are actually there. A fool like the one I encountered today who can afford to have a comfortable life asks the question that the homeless, orphan, hungry, mutilated is not asking on the other side. They usually never do. On this side of the tragedy people are using what happened to run away from God while victims are desperately running to God. To me if someone had the right to ask the question; it would be the Haitian people. Except, they are not.

I've heard it say that "atheism ends at the grave" and I guess that's true for both types of people.

Last week I was able to hook up with an old friend of mine who happens to be a pastor as well. He's not a senior pastor, a youth pastor, a ministry pastor, a worship pastor nor a, family's pastor. He's an "Availability Pastor."  Have you heard of such thing? I hadn't 'till then.  When I first heard him state his new title I had two feelings. One of disturbance and another one of compassion. Let me try to flesh my reactions out.

Disturbance - It's quite disturbing to me at times that the Church of Jesus Christ has institutionalized to the point that ministers perform according to labels. If you're a worship pastor you sing - can't preach. If you're a senior pastor, you preach and so why would you want to visit with someone who's sick? It disturbed me that I've followed this flow and that the western American church has become so industrialized that ministry roles have been created according to an organizational system and a personal profile to the point of naming someone "Pastor of Availability." I've never found these labels while reading the New Testament. Plus, what's this guy supposed to do anyways?

Compassion - To me it sounded like they had created "the bench pastor position." Now, I know my friend and I know the church he has worked for for many years. He has been instrumental not only in my spiritual formation but in the life of many godly men and women to this day. My wife included. Why would you put someone like him on the bench? He's a strong player! Much stronger than some of the "starters" I know they have. That's how I felt. For a minute I felt sorry for the guy and sorry for his church.

But then it dawned on me that if there was a title to define who he was and what all pastors are supposed to be, that was it! - Pastor of Availability. While in the New Testament you can't find the titles we've created for pastors, you find that pastors were available to people and to whatever Jesus required of them at the time. If healing the sick was needed they were there, if preaching was required they were there, if counseling was required they were there. They ministered to children, to the youth, the elderly and to people in prison.They were not bound to a tittles except that one of availability. Which to me is one that communicates both humility and boldness. Humility because they existed to serve as Jesus served and boldness because no challenge was a challenge. I could never imagine Paul saying to Jesus: "-Lord, send John, he has the gift compassion. He's our outreach pastor!" Nope. They did whatever came their way. They faced demons, incredulity, diseases, conflicts and, crisis whenever and wherever needed.

So- what at first was source of disturbance and compassion latter became a source of fascination and reflection. I started to ask myself: why am I not a pastor of availability as well?  I know from my own experience that the title I have received has many times handicapped me to truly be what Jesus wants me to be. I recall myself saying "I won't see him. That's not my job!" or "I don't have time to sit with that couple, I have to sermonize." I know that there's always a risk of being distracted off of our focus/ responsibility but is it possible that sometimes Jesus wants us to be available to meet random needs of people? And is it possible that we have hidden behind titles and have used them as an excuse to minister spontaneously? I'll say yes. What about you?

I'm a sports fan and for a while I've been wanting to write a short piece on it. Specially about where sports interacts and intersects with spirituality.

I've often found myself comparing what happens in my soul when I play a soccer match, read the sports section of an online paper and, watch one of my country-men fight an MMA match with what I experience in worship, preaching a sermon or reading my Bible.

There are some similarities. If there wasn't Paul wouldn't have compared his ministry focus with a race or a boxing match.

I don't know about you but, every time I go to a stadium or an arena of any sort it's very clear to me that there's a spiritual experience taking place. Worship is evident in the chants, emotional reactions, community expressions and, the feasting. I could even throw the offering element in there if you want me to.

It's funny how people will criticize organized religion because of all of the above and yet still pay their yearly tithe to their teams of choice, shout the name of their deities till they bust all their vocal cords, hug and drink with strangers and, practice apologetics to prove the existence of their team/ group/ player's superiority. In many ways there's no difference between a hard-core sports fan and a pentecostal christian.

We all have a longing to belong, an urge to triumph and a need to escape the boredom of reality. Sports therefore, become a great outlet for these needs. From this standpoint entertainment is extremely important for life in society. The Romans understood it well as their famous slogan of "bread and circus" revealed.

As with every good thing given by the Father of Light, sports were given to us so that we would enjoy and stimulate these soul cravings. Like sex and food, sports point us to a greater reality. A reality where we can solve our crisis of belonging, quench our thirst for everlasting victory and find true meaning in the midst of the repetitiveness of reality.

I remember sitting through a sociology class in my high school in Brazil as the teacher presented to us students the rural exodus phenomenon. His negative tone to the presentation connected well to our contextual reality for as many of you know, there are many urban problems in Latin America such as high crime, favelas (slums), and unemployment. All world cities face variations of these issues.

For a long time I saw the urbanization of the world as something inherently bad. After all, God had created the world rural. In my imagination heaven was a place for plants, animals and human beings dressed in long white robes. While those things will probably exist in heaven (except for the white robes, of course), the Bible portrays heaven as an urban place with a main boulevard, streets, buildings and tons of people. Density, diversity and creativity are overtones of this depiction. Don't believe me? Go read Revelation 21-22.

History does start in the garden but it ends in a city. A city that God is building and that one day he will bring down from heaven. A city that will fuse into our Metropolis (New York, Sao Paulo, Seoul...), will bring them all together into one mega-mega-mega Metropolis, will eliminate what's bad in them and enhance to the maximum what's already beautiful in them.

This changed things for me.

I guess for this reason its not all that bad that more and more people in the world move to cities. Its inevitable that this rural exodus intensifies. The reason why the world is becoming more and more urban is because history is moving us to the biggest and the greatest city of all -- The City of God.

In the time being this makes me appreciate more and more where I live (God forbid I move to a farm town in the middle of nowhere!). It makes my adrenaline levels rise with the thought of engaging the mission of beginning this urban-fusion process here and now.

According to statistical reports every year more than 4,000 churches close their doors in America compared to just over 1,000 new church starts. While clearly more church planting is needed to change the scenario, church re-planting presents itself as a valid alternative to expand the Kingdom of Jesus in global cities. There are several places in the world today (specially in the Northern Hemisphere) where Christianity "once was". With main-line churches loosing strength and influence in these areas, a large amount of resources is going to waste. First, think about the people in some of these dying institutions that would give their lives up to see the gospel transforming their communities. I think we tend to underestimate the holy-discontent that exists in such contexts because we tend to generalize the condition across the board. Now, think about the assets that some of these institutions possess. Many of them end up being sold at the price of bananas only to be converted into private schools, clubs and, concert venues. In a green-friendly era church re-cycling should be highly considered. In this article I want to share some of the learning principles that have taken place in my life and in the life of my friends as we replanted a church in the beautiful and messy Miami. This week we will be celebrating Crossbridge's one year anniversary previously known as Immanuel Presbyterian Church. Immanuel was handed to us in the following conditions: A remnant group of 52 members, in the average age of 57, followed with a multi-million dollar-debt-free facility in the affluent Pinecrest neighborhood. Today we are a church of 200+ in attendance, 32 being our average age and, getting ready to launch a new campus next month Downtown Miami. If the Lord happens to lead you to an opportunity like ours, here are some of the things we have learned along the way.

They have to come to peace with dying - Let me start by saying this. A replant is impossible unless the vast majority of the congregation is willing to die. Unless this is the case, you might as well give up. That being the case (that the church is willing to die), your job coming in is to flesh out for them the practical implications of the death and resurrection scenario. You have to be systematic, patient, loving and, trust that ultimately the Holy Spirit is speaking to their hearts. This is a crucial phase because it will set the tone for the whole process. Once people are convinced that they have to die for the sake of Jesus and his Gospel the soil is ready for the seed of the new church to germinate. When I was called by Redeemer to visit Immanuel Pres at the time, I admit, I had a large level of skepticism towards the whole idea (other local pastors shared the same skepticism). Thankfully the folks at Immanuel were faced with this reality and they were alright with it. They had lost all hopes of revitalization and the Spirit made them realize that they needed to start over.

-Find a "proxy" - Don't try this by yourself. Often times dying churches will see you as the person that will come in and restore to them the "good ol' days". Obviously that's not what you have in mind coming in but, that's what they are hoping for. You will spend time planning and talking about change and they will not be listening. Ultimately they will hear what they want to hear. We're all like that. For this reason, you need another entity that both you and the congregation can trust to mediate the process. This is important for you and for the congregation. For them it's important because the last thing they want is be taken advantage of. For you its important because your proxy will help you with coaching and mentoring which will minimize bad decision-making as well as providing you with protection from being bullied by the congregation. In our case Redeemer served as the proxy. Before I came in they had a Board of Governors established where two of Redeemer's elders were a part of it along with three members of their session and myself. This board had full autonomy to execute decisions without the need to get the approval of the session. Looking back, I don't think it would have worked otherwise.

Get them excited about new life - One of the things that was in the original partnership agreement (that we ended up changing) was the idea of two separate congregations. According to the agreement the church planter would play a double role. He would care for the existing congregation while giving birth to this new church. The two congregations would share facilities and staff. From the start Beth (my wife) and I thought that would be an impossible task to accomplish not only because it would divide resources but because it would give room to all sorts of relational problems. Instead, I proposed the idea of a single multi-generational (they liked this word) and multi-cultural congregation to which they really got excited about. Deep inside they didn't want to stand by the side lines but desired to be participants of the new. And, they have participated in a big way.

Bring small changes. This was one piece of advice that I got in the beginning from a pastor in town who had gone through a similar situation. For a couple reasons. First, it helps to build momentum and anticipation of what's coming. Secondly, it gets them off-balance. It helps them to disconnect from the ways things have been done. Some of the things we did right away were rearrange chairs, change worship time, dress casually, buy new office furniture etc.

Bring radical changes. If you are re-planting, you need a clear slate. Even before I arrived I asked the Board of Governors to clear the decks. That meant, letting go of all three staff members, eliminating all programs and, shutting down all committees. The last thing to go was the church's name. We did that a month before we launched Crossbridge.

Bring new people from day one. One of the first things Terry Gyger told me was: "-Felipe, the name of the game is bring new people in". He was right. If all they see is the same ol' group of peeps week in week out, they will lose trust in you as a gatherer and as a leader. Beth and I worked really hard at meeting new people all the time, everywhere. It worked.

Build a new launch team with new people. You need a new group of people from the outside and maybe a few from the inside that can help you to craft the vision for the new church. As a planter you have a keen sense of what you think needs to be created in relation the ministry but you need some collective intelligence to help you to contextualize the church's ministry to the community/ city. Through some networking, I was able to meet and invite some emotionally stable (make sure this is the case), mature people that believed in the vision and that were able to contribute in a big way.

Get the "old folks" excited about them. The last thing you want is jealousy to be fostered within the existing congregation. One of the ways I did this was to talk about the "new folks" in public and ask the existing congregation to welcome them well. They did a good job at that.

Set a day for the launch and a day for the memorial service. The old church needs closure and the new church needs a new beginning. It needs to be evident. Six months into the transition phase we held a memorial service for Immanuel where some of the members got up to share stories of how they had seen God in their midst along the years. After that, we shut the church down for two weeks, offered a new membership class for all of them to go through and launched Crossbridge.

Be careful with "shady" offers. I thought about not bringing this up but, the more I thought about it, it seemed important. In the beginning you will find folks trying to be generous in order to gain leverage for negotiation.

Don't be afraid to lose people. Often times pastors find themselves negotiating with people to keep them and their money in. In reality they are negotiating their vision. Money and people can be replaced, not vision. Once it's gone, it's gone. So, don't negotiate, don't accommodate, don't adapt.

Fight "well intentioned dragons" smart. "Within the church, they are often sincere, well-meaning saints, but they leave ulcers, strained relationships, and hard feelings in their wake. They don't consider themselves difficult people. They don't sit up nights thinking of ways to be nasty. Often they are pillars of the community, talented, strong personalities, deservingly respected but for some reason, they undermine the ministry of the church. They are not naturally rebellious or pathological; they are loyal church members, convinced they're serving God, but they wind up doing more harm than good. They can drive pastors crazy or out of the church (Well-Intentioned Dragons - Marshall Shelly, p. 11)". We had a couple of these laying around and we spent time strategizing of how to approach them. Al Barth (my Redeemer coach) was very instrumental here. We met with these guys, allowed them to speak their mind, and respected their points of view. As a last resort, we suggested that they check out a few churches in town that were closer to their style.

Keep new things coming. If you bring a bunch of new things at once, it might overwhelm people and you might run out of cards. If you can afford to time them and spread them out weekly, monthly, quarterly, semesterly... it will help you to always have momentum.

Keep thanking "the old folks". I know it's hard but they need recognition. After all, without them you wouldn't be replanting so whenever you have the opportunity thank them. Do it in public, on a one on one basis, through emails, notes, whatever it takes for them to feel appreciated.

Pound the Vision. Make sure that if someone attended your church a month they would be able to articulate the vision. You can do this in several ways. Through published materials, your website, as you preach, give announcements, send newsletters etc.

Preach the Gospel every Sunday. Don't waste your time preaching anything else. You need to form a gospel culture in order for it to work. When the gospel is embraced by the people both younger brothers and older brother types will rejoice and an outstanding community will be formed. It will cross through economical, ethnical, cultural and generational lines.

"An embrace involves always a double movement of opening and closing. I open my arms to create space in myself for the other. The open arms are a sign of discontent at being myself only and of desire to include the other. They are an invitation to the others to come in and feel at home with me, to belong to me. In an embrace I also close my arms around the others-not tightly, so as to crush and assimilate then forcefully into myself, for that would not be an embrace but a concealed power-act of exclusion; but gently, so as to tell them that I do not want to be without them in their otherness. I want them to remain independent and true to their genuine selves, to maintain their identity and as such become part of me so that they can enrich me with what they have and I do not".

- Miroslav Volf

I believe that what differentiates an outward faced community from one that is ingrown and inward faced is the issue of hospitality. I believe that life and vibrancy always flows out of the openness of doors, minds, arms and hearts. Death comes as a consequence of closed doors, hearts, arms and hearts. It's sociologically proven (I think) that countries that have closed their doors to other ethnic groups and cultures will grow old (in average age), resulting in the loss of their own culture. The very culture, they are trying to keep pure. Because when it comes to culture, architecture, books, culinary, territory, and even language, are proven not to be the best preservation tool. People are.

This principle translates equally to the church and the preservation of its essential message, the Gospel. In the first three chapters of the Bible, we are able to draw the same parallel. Out of the openness of the Trinitarian God, the world came into existence. Out of this same openness, humanity was created and invited to participate in the Trinitarian dynamics. However, we later read in that section of Scripture, that death entered into the picture as soon as mankind decided to follow the example of Lucifer. And that was, to BE their own gods, to focus on the desires of their own hearts and its craving for self-satisfaction.

Sef-satisfaction is the essence of sin and as Scripture points out clearly, "the wages of sin is death". For those who have had the opportunity to go to Europe I'm sure it's mind-bothering to visit Christianity's cemetery. There, you will see buildings, books, museums, art pieces of a culture that once was. Why so?

Ecclesiologists and missiologists will generally agree that it had to do with an inward faced/ ingrown church that grew old, and irrelevant. A church that once was. Signs of this passing are beginning to show up in America where every year, less young people attend while at the same time more people drop-out to never return. Other statistics such as the number of churches closing every year are quite alarming, to say the least.

The city where I live in (Miami) is certainly a witness of this reality. The million-dollar question is: what is the church missing out? I would have to say that it's the whole issue of hospitality.

When we think of hospitality we usually think as Tim Keller says, "of Martha Stuart". He's right. Google search the word and you will find resorts and vacations websites as well as, Martha Stuart stuff. Those are all good things however, that's not what the Bible's means when it speaks of hospitality. Mainly because when we think of hospitality we are really thinking about ourselves. We are thinking of places we would like to go, enjoy and be well accommodated and, people that are like us and that we find pleasure hosting and spending time with.

What the Bible means when it comes to hospitality is
a. an intentional lifestyle not something done once in a while
b. something to be extended to all people not just to people that are like us
c. more than just a few days of shelter and an open fridge, it means meeting all needs
d. not to be exercised with what can be spared for example, an extra bed, left-over food, pocket change. It implies in sacrificing your comfort in favor of others.

Bottom line is this. Hospitality is about others. Its about the neighbor and even the enemy. Through these lenses hospitality can be seen as the embodiment of the Gospel. This implies that If the church misses out on hospitality it will eventually miss out on the Gospel. And, a church without a palpable gospel has no business in being alive.

History will show that the times when Christianity thrived, were the times when the Church exercised radical hospitality to its neighbors and enemies. While there are indicatives that the church in the northern hemisphere at large is at the very least stagnant, the church in the southern hemisphere is thriving.

Reason? Many but one of them certainly is hospitality that flows out of a genuine understanding of the Gospel.