In the middle of a busy week, where much of my time has been spent thinking about the fires in SoCal, our work with inter::mission here in Seattle moves on. We had another one of our teach-ins last night. One of our staffers, Lindsay, threw down on some Poppy Seed Chicken for dinner - outstanding! Our student from Turkey made some yummy Turkish coffee, too. Then my good friend, Ed Park, pastor of Sanctuary Church, led us in a conversation about spiritual formation and mission. He really nailed it. He tied the dynamics of formation into the theology of mission in a way that was holistic and real. Quite honestly, it was very helpful to me personally, on the same level as Dallas Willard in some ways. Ed has been doing missional, relational, and incarnational church planting in the city for a while now, and it's evident. If I could just get him blogging . . .

The community of students living at The Purple Door is really becoming a great group. We've been blessed with a remarkably diverse group. One student from Turkey, one from (East) Germany, one from China. One of our students has lived in multiple countries, growing up in a family engaged in medical missions. I can't tell you how good it makes me feel to be doing dishes in the kitchen after dinner's over, and hearing the laughter of students enjoying relationship late into the evening . . . despite having heavy school workloads. I know staying up late and being social are sort of par for the course for college students, but they're doing this stuff within the context of spiritual depth and connectedness. The school year is young, but I'm really pleased with how good it's gotten already. More good times to come.


Our next teach-in will be November 8. Mike Gunn, pastor of Harambee Church in Renton, WA will be leading us in a conversation about mission and culture. I'm really looking forward to that.

Labels: friends, inter::mission, the purple door