Sacred Digital: Chuckk Gerwig

Yiiihaa!!! Yesterday morning Omar and I tried out something new in multisite ministry. We led "Cowboy Church" under the open sky in the shade of the redwoods on a ranch high up in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Ever since I arrived up here I've been thinking we should have a gathering outdoors for the active outdoor people in this area. There are folks who wouldn't come into a church building and feel that nature is a better setting for spiritual activity. This beautiful place we live is a cathedral anyway.

A couple of months back a crazyman approached me and said "I have a ranch and want to start a church service outdoors for the mountain bikers, horseback riders, hikers, bikers and others who frequent the trails and roads around my property". After a bit of prayer Omar and I felt Jesus calling us to go do this so we signed up to lead Cowboy Church out on his ranch on Sunday mornings as an experiment this month in addition to our evening services at Elevation. So we're extra tired guys this Monday morning!

Yesterday morning I woke up early and rode my Harley thru the redwoods to the ranch not knowing if anyone at all would show but totally excited to simply obey God and go worship there and preach to whoever did show up. I like taking chances, I like a level of uncertainty: if we only take on ministry ops that seem a safe bet to succeed there's no faith involved. We told our Elevation folks this isn't for you unless you bring a friend who wouldn't come inside a church building to keep it from being just another worship service option for already Christian folks. We had a great time for our first service, 12 people total showed up, the weather was excellent and it was a blast - everyone in attendance loved the service. In the coming weeks there is a horse riding group riding up to tie up their horses to the hitchin' post and come to church under the redwoods, fun stuff. Here's an excerpt from an email from the Ranch's owner.

It was a blessed time and we had a nice turnout but hope for a lot more in the following weeks. The word is just getting out!The fairly liberal Bonny Doon news gave us 2 page ad’s. I’ve already gotten phone calls and emails from people saying they want to attend… including people who don’t normally go to church, several new believers (a guy that painted my house received the Lord and is coming ) some new neighbors just called and asked if it was ok if her husband, a Jewish man could join us… I loved it!!!

We'll continue through this month and stop for the winter and invite anyone who becomes a regular to Elevation or SCBC services. If it seems like we should do this again we'll start up early next summer and run for 4 months, who knows we're just gonna follow Jesus around the ranch and see where He leads. If not we'll cook up another experiment maybe next time we can be like Indians, soldiers, prisoners, or migrant workers instead of Cowbows. Take a moment to pray for Cowboy Church will ya?

The Cowboy Church sanctuary.

On the iPod: Flogging Molly - Float

Yiiiiii Haaaaaa... some more... Here are a couple more pix from the first morning at "Cowboy Church" - see the blog below this one if you're thinking ..."what???"

Incarnate...everywhere...

ht: Brian Martin

I have lately started to re-appreciate 20th century genius composer Frank Zappa. Sadly, Frank died in the early 1990's -and died as an outspoken opponent of Christianity (and other religions). His son Dweezil (yes, Dweezil is his legal given name) is currently leading a band of amazing musicians on tour playing his father's compositions. I saw some of the show on PBS last night and my brain is still trying to process what I heard. I am toying with the idea of heading to Hollywood to catch the set live at the Roxy in December. If you haven't heard Zappa's eclectic, bizarre and challenging music you can listen in on Zappa Radio.

YEEEE HAWWW PARDNERS (that's Maranatha in cowboy I think)

Cowboy Chuckk checking in with an update from the Ranch. This Sunday morning was a blessing at Cowboy Church. We had all 12 people from last week show up again and 5 new people joined us for the first time this Sunday morning so we've grown to 17 people, 4 horses and 1 French Poodle so far. People are really enthusiastic when we gather, it's a blast.

We had a great time of fellowship, Word and Worship under the Redwoods. Here's an email excerpt from David our ministry partner and the owner of the ranch we meet at:

Hey Chuck and Omar, Thanks so much for serving at the Outdoor Church Today. Today was a home run…We had quite a few new people and about 1/3rd of the people were not Christians and I’m pretty sure don’t attend church. Most people took the New Testatments we handed out with the words for the Praise Songs. Quite a diverse group. Some yuppies, a Buddist, a Jewish Gentleman and other wonderful folks. GOD was at work today.Blessings and thanks for the honor of serving with you. Hope you enjoy the pictures. With great respect. David De La Rosa

As I was leaving I got a big hug from the Buddhist lady who had visited and she said let's hang out and chat some next week after the service. Next week a group of folks are riding up the trails to join us for church too. Send up a prayer for the Cowboy Church folks.

I had a fun weekend of preaching: Saturday PM at the new SCBC Traditional Service, 2 Sunday Morning SCBC " contemporary services" and was the MC of the Sunday PM Elevation Worship and Communion Service. Bummer... with the preach-a-thon going I couldn't be at Cowboy Church up at the Ranch. This is how some folks arrived at the service there this week tho!

Stephen Hawking has a clock "e i e i o" and on this clock he has a 'hopper "e i e i o". Was he listening to Dark Side of the Moon, drinking Jim Beam and feeling philosophical when he thought this up? This is an ominous bummer clock unless you are like me, and have entered into the Timeless. Then it's just an interesting clock with an exoskeletal critter riding the helm. I am immortal, and liking it.

Once a month or so we have an evening devoted to longer musical worship and a more focused time of communion. September's gathering had such a great vibe...well done Environment Team!

This Sunday we start our new series - JunK: Putting Away Your Past. All of us have some "Junk"... stuff we've done to ourselves and others, stuff others have done to us and bad circumstances that just found their way into our story. How do we put away the negative self talk, how do we forgive others fully and get on with life, how do we live with real joy when our history is filled with regrets and bummers?

JunK is an exploration of living well, beyond the junkyard. This series isn't a morose contemplation on things past but a joyful hope-filled trip into the life Jesus intends for us.

Come and bring a friend along who may have a little junk of their own.

Book recommend from the sermon on Your Identity in Christ Neil Anderson - Victory Over The Darkness

In the last week: We finally had the exterior of our big ol funky house painted (it looks cool), we started a new series: JUNK and a lady prayed and asked Jesus into her life after the service last night!, we went whale watching with the staff 'n saw the big smelly beasts too- see pic below

We went to Ocktoberfest on Highway 9 and had a total blast, I led the last Cowboy Church gathering of this year (22 people came) many do NOT go to church gatherings - see pic below.

We also went to Carly's last high school parents night, hung out with some old friends, rode Harleys to wonderful San Francisco and back down the foggy coast and now are starting up for another glorious week of sleep deprivation and adrenaline soaked Kingdom fun.