Moving Forward, Praying for Favor

Church,

Yesterday was a whirlwind. I’m still processing the emotional shift that takes place inside you when you are sprinting toward excitement, only to have all your forward momentum carry you into disappointment with just as much vigor.

So much to be grateful for

These last few weeks have been absolutely incredible. People have been absolutely cranking away. It felt like the early morning buzz in a major city, with lifts zooming through our lobby like commuters on their way to work and dust poofing through the air like early morning fog. Lights flashing, air compressors pumping, alerts dinging. There was this chaotic energy to it that just smelled like progress.

Nick Moon has had his whole team from Tone Proper putting in long days and late nights installing our sound, lights, and screen. You have to understand, these guys are the best of the best. Every church in the Portland area that executes at a high level knows who Nick and his team are when it comes to production. And Nick has called Rise home for years now, and he’s finally getting to paint his art on our canvas.

Sean Elrod’s crew from Gresham Electric rewired our entire lighting for the lobby and auditorium at a pace that didn’t feel possible. At one point, I’m pretty sure he was just following behind the framers, waiting for boards to get installed so he could drill his hole and pull his wire without losing any time. I tease Sean for his attention to detail, but when you walk through those entry doors and see the precision of those lights laid out in our giant lobby, you’ll be as grateful for it as I am.

Jared Fried was literally taking vacation days from work just to show up and execute on whatever was needed.

Nate Pursley basically shifted his entire job description to put on his bags and move us forward in whatever was needed.

Kristen Friend was the plow on the front of the train that clears the path so the entire thing can move forward. (Technically, I’m pretty sure that thing’s called a cowcatcher, but that didn’t feel like the best metaphorical nickname, even if she did once live in Corbett.) But you know what I’m talking about. It’s the wedge-shaped metal frame attached to the front of a locomotive to push objects off the tracks and protect the train from derailment. That woman is a force and does absolutely anything and everything to keep our church moving forward.

I wish I could list out everyone and all they have done, but even then, it wouldn’t scratch the surface of all that’s been sacrificed to keep moving us forward.

What happened Friday

So Friday afternoon, as I’m wrapping up my sermon notes and what felt like the exactly ordained passage to preach in our new space on Sunday, I got the phone call you never want to receive. It’s that feeling where you’re walking along, then all of a sudden you’re on the ground and you’re not quite sure how you even ended up there. Did I trip? Did I hit my head? You quickly start to assess if you’re wounded, what even happened, and what you do next.

Essentially, what happened was that we were operating under the understanding from our builder that we had our temporary certificate of occupancy (TCO) after these walls were moved, allowing us to continue gathering in our auditorium. Without getting into the details of it—for the sake of our builder, the city, and our church—we were informed that more inspections need to happen next week before that can be possible.

To be clear, this isn’t the city overstepping. This is everyone doing their best to do their job and keep everyone safe. As much as I hate the permit and inspection process, I do find myself grateful for them whenever I read in the news about some of the disasters that take place in countries that do not have them.

However, we do need clarity with our builder and the city.

Our facility team rallied together for an emergency meeting Friday night to get our arms wrapped around a plan for this next week. I’ve reached out to the city of Gresham’s building official to see if I can get a sit-down with him personally to discuss our path.

So while we do believe we have a solid plan of action, it is going to take some favor with the city and diligence from our builder to get moved through with confidence.

Three priorities for the week ahead

At this point, I’m walking into this next week trying to move three things forward together.

1. Keep building disciples

First, we are a church, not a construction company. So the most important thing we are building is our pathways of discipleship and opportunities for encounter with Jesus. We need to reach the lost and make disciples. That’s why we exist. As you can imagine, the fall ramp-up is an incredibly significant moment for us, and we have to keep pressing forward in gatherings, groups, and ministries.

2. Press forward with clarity and action

Second, we need to press hard to get into our new space. The plan for gathering is a good one and is going to work. But we need to be able to work together with the city on this. Things could take a gnarly turn, and the path forward could become much harder. We need to pray against that happening. I don’t believe any of this was mismanaged by our church—but it is the position we find ourselves in, and complaining gets us nowhere. So let’s press forward with clarity and action.

3. Prepare for other possibilities

Third, I now need to start preparing for if things do go sideways. I know leaders aren’t supposed to say that, but I think honest transparency is helpful. We’ve already missed two weeks in a row that were unplanned, so we need to begin preparing for other possibilities should that happen. I’m a raging optimist, but I’m not sure if that’s helpful in this situation. 🤣

It’s not simple for a church our size to just shift locations, as there are few places in our city that fit us. But thankfully, we have strong relationships and a creative team, so we will have to begin adapting if this week doesn’t go according to plan.

Let’s pray for favor

Look, I know we are going to be fine as a church through this all. Churches go through way harder, way more painful things. This is a skinned knee. It stings. It doesn’t feel good. We aren’t sure how long it’s going to take before it’s no longer painful. But we have to get up, fix our eyes on the journey ahead, and keep walking forward.

At the end of the passage I was going to be preaching on Sunday, Nehemiah shares his closing words of prayer to God for the work he has ahead. He knows he needs to build a wall, but he also knows he can’t do it without the strength of his people and the favor of a foreign king. So here’s what he prays:

“Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”

Nehemiah 1:11 (NIV)

What a big and specific prayer. Lord, please be attentive to our request. We are doing this for the reverence of your name. So could you please grant us some favor in the presence of a foreign leader.

May we do the same this week.

Let’s pray for God’s attention to our situation.
Let’s pray this would be for His name. His fame. His renown. His glory.
And let’s pray for some favor.