Friday, September 26, 2008




A Daytime View of a Possible Verge Type Location

A Future New Verge Location



This is an ‘urban oasis’ high above the daily grind in Hells Kitchen on 10th Avenue and 36th street in NYC. . . a possible VERGE location for the future.

Thursday, September 18, 2008



one of the best when it comes to intersecting with the poor, culture, and race. John Perkins was one of the mentors in a program I participated in. A pioneer in justice.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

From Out of Ur Blog

Joining the Green Revolution

Rethinking our stewardship of the church's space and staff.

by Dave Gibbons

We are witnessing what some are calling the greatest transfer of wealth in human history. The McKinsey Global Institute has shown how assets are moving primarily from Europe and America to the oil countries of the Middle East and the manufacturing giants of Asia.

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At the end of 2007, these oil producing countries owned about 4.6 trillion dollars of assets. That’s about 1.6 times the whole economy of the UK. The six Arab countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council are receiving 1.5 billion dollars a day. Those are pretty staggering numbers.

Our “dangerous dependence on foreign oil” and the transfer of wealth it is producing, is moving both political parties to emphasize a new green agenda. This includes new technologies, further exploration into alternative energy, clean energy, drilling off-shore, and conservation.

As we consider conserving energy resources for environmental and economic reasons, maybe we should reconsider how we steward our resources in the church.

Around the country, there is growing concern with diminishing giving because of the state of our economy. People are giving less because they are earning less, and because they’re having to pay more for things like gas. But this trend may prove to be good in the long run, especially if it teaches us to better manage church resources.

The largest expenses for most churches are facilities and staff. First, let’s consider the stewardship of our space. Is it really the best to buy as much land as possible and erect large buildings, when the same dollars could be better deployed in other initiatives that prove more impactful? How much of our space is actually utilized during a given week? In expensive urban centers, every square foot comes at a very high purchase price, and we can’t forget about the cost of furnishing and maintaining the space.

I’m not saying buildings are bad, but are we being good stewards? I asked our director of operations who helped build three of the largest church facilities in America, to assess our space usage. I discovered that we use our facilities about 30 percent of the month—mostly on weekends. So how much were we spending for facility space that we didn’t use? Around $60,000 a month; $720,000 a year! In ten years that’s over $10 million dollars!

How about staffing? As culture moves from a hierarchical model to a more flat, open, or wiki model, how should we staff? When I looked more closely at our budget, I realized that over 55% of our budget was staff related. While our staff is amazing, it had unintentionally created a bottleneck in our mission—it impeded the development of our people because we were “staff-driven.”

Our first instinct to address needs in the church tends to be hiring professionals. The economy is going to force us to re-examine that practice. Look at a church website. How many of the leaders listed there are lay people? How many unpaid people function as pastors/leaders in the congregation? Am I saying we should do away with pastors? Of course not. But we must see the congregation as the leading edge of the church and redefine our pastoral role to support and resource them. The movers and shakers should be in the congregation, not the professional staff. We serve, support, and at times lead—but we lead in the way Paul defined it…equipping our people to do the work of the ministry.

Can you imagine what would happen if the bulk of our resources focused on the development of our people rather than on staff and facilities? Can you imagine the impact that would have on our mission? It might just result in the greatest transfer of wealth in church history.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Parking Garages

I'm not one to typically like parking garages but I do like thoughtful design. Check it out:

Is That Really A Car Park?
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Great, aesthetically pleasing design needn't be limited to traditional architectural forms such as houses and public buildings. Utilitarian spaces, such as car parks, present architects and designers with a unique opportunity to bring beauty and harmony to the everyday functional spaces that are normally ignored by great design minds. We're excited to report that the tide is changing, evidenced by these good-looking car parks.

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Tuesday, September 9, 2008

A Tribute to a Mentor

Leighton Ford wrote shared this heartfelt eulogy for his friend and colleague, Irv Chambers. Leighton is still a mentor to me and Irv, as well. Irv was the man behind the scenes but was the stability, the glue, the quiet joy and strength that often is missed among leaders. I will miss his laughter, encouraging presence and words, and his compassion. He was a model of leadership that reminds me of the Holy Spirit and his role among the Trinity and the world. We will miss you, Irv but see you soon.

One of your "sons", dave

FOR IRV
In memory and in honor
September 8, 2008


He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great many people were brought to the Lord. Acts 11:2

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58

Today I need to begin by saying that I will need to ask Irv for his forgiveness, not for something I have done, but for something I about to do.

For I am going to talk about Irv, and Irv never wanted to talk about himself or to be the center of attention. He wanted today to be about Christ his Lord. And it will be. Because we cannot think about Irv without thinking about the Lord he served.

And we are here to remember and honor how we have seen Christ in Irv Chambers.

It was said of the ancient patriarchs – like Abraham and Job – that they died “full of years.” Irv would never have thought of himself as a patriarch. But he was “full of years.” He has left us just three months shy of his 80th birthday.

Today we join to honor him with his beloved wife Marilyn, Sheri and Susan, the daughters he adored, his fine sons-in-law, Hugh and Jason, and the grandsons that were the joy of his life, Andrew and Daniel, and his faithful brother David.

Irv has been my partner in ministry and my pal for fifty-two years. I remember so vividly the snowy night in Ontario when we first met. Jeanie and I were sitting at dinner at our small lakeside hotel in Orillia when Irv walked in, shook the snowflakes off his topcoat, put down his trumpet case, and came over to shake hands.

We had never met. A mutual friend had recommended him to me as music leader for a crusade, and Irv accepted sight unseen. For two weeks we led services in a staid old Presbyterian church. Irv played his sweet trumpet, drew the youth with his magic and humor, and put together a large choir including many single women who I am sure dreamed about this handsome and eligible bachelor who had come to town. He led our packed out services with aplomb and grace.

Neither of us imagined then that we were destined to work together in ministry for a half century. But a chemistry of the Spirit matched our gifts, drew our hearts together, and still does.

When I think of Irv I think of Paul and Barnabas, that early evangelistic team. Not that I am like Paul, but certainly Irv was like Barnabas- nicknamed the “son of encouragement.” Acts 11 tells us that Barnabas was sent to Antioch to check on the authenticity of the conversions there. When he arrived, and saw the evidence of the grace of God,

He was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. (Acts 11:23-24)

Like Barnabas, Irv was “a good man” full not only of years, but “of the Holy Spirit and of faith.” Irv even went Barnabas one better. Paul and Barnabas at one point split over a disagreement. So far as I remember I never heard an angry word from Irv. Jeanie and I have often said we never heard anyone have anything bad to say about him. And we certainly never had a split.

And that was sin large part because Irv so beautifully reflected, in his life and in his loves, the image of Christ his Servant Lord.

There is an old Greek word –arete – which describes the excellence of any person or thing. Something is ”arête” when it perfectly fits the purpose for which it is made. A sword which is sharp is “arête.” A javelin which goes straight when it is thrown is “arête.” Irv’s greatest desire was to serve others, and for that he was “arete” – perfectly shaped – to be, like his Lord, one who came “not to be served, but to serve.”

One of the young men Irv influenced wrote a book about servant leadership. He titled it The Song of the Second Fiddle. The theme was that great leadership is seen not only in the well-known upfront leaders, but in those who back them up.

Irv didn’t play the fiddle. He was a trumpeter. And he played his trumpet with a sweetness that I will always remember, and played his life’s song with that same kind of sweetness and grace in everything.

He ministered with humility and humor. He was a ten-talent man, but he never thought of himself as primarily a student or preacher. He had a handful of sermons he preached again and again. One Sunday in Canada Irv was going out to preach at a church. One of our team asked what he was preaching about that morning and Irv replied, “Why Jesus Chose Judas.” When his teammate mused that that was an interesting choice for Mother’s Day, Irv was stumped just for a moment. “Mother’s Day!” he exclaimed. “Mother’s Day!” Then quick as a flash he said, “Well, even Judas had a mother!”

Irv was fun to be with. On my next to the last visit with him we were reminiscing about the ministry we had shared in dozens of cities, scores of countries, on every continent. “And we had so much fun, didn’t we?” I asked.

He whispered a word. I didn’t catch it so I leaned closer and said, “What?”

”Lethbridge,” I heard him say faintly. “Lethbridge” - a city on the Canadian prairies.


”What about Lethbridge?” I asked.

“Football.” I caught his reply.

“Where did we play football?”

“In the hall in the hotel.”

“What did we play with?”

“A roll of toilet paper,” he croaked, and I am sure I saw a little grin on his lips.

When Irv was a bachelor he liked the girls, and the girls liked him. Once he came in late in the evening and we spotted lipstick on the collar of his tan raincoat. Because he was color blind he had not seen it. We teased him unmercifully for a long time about that but always were sure he had good boundaries.

Then when he met the Girl – his beloved Marilyn – his eyes and heart were set forever - from the day he proposed to her (in typical Irv style while the offering was being collected at a crusade in Calgary)- to the day he married her with ten foot high snow drifts banking the church in Minneapolis- to the arrival of the two other girls – Sheri and Susan -whom he adored with all his heart and their husbands and children – they, along with his Lord, were the very center of his life.

Whenever we met for prayer and I asked Irv about his personal requests they were never about him, but always about others – and especially for his family. Sometimes I would get just the tiniest bit exasperated, and say, “But Irv, what about you?” And he would have to think hard for something to ask about himself.

Even when his body began to weaken, the servant heart stayed strong. One morning several years ago he fell out of a hammock in his yard, and could not pick himself up. Marilyn was out. And though he had a cell phone he didn’t use it to call. He simply waited for her to return. And while he was lying there his phone rang and he had a long conversation with a young pastor who called, needing some counsel and encouragement . He never knew Irv was lying on the ground the whole time talking to him.

There were a few times when I was able in turn to serve Irv in tangible ways. Once we were in Calcutta, India going to the airport to fly to Bangkok and on to Tokyo. Irv was miserably sick because of some food poisoning. I had to carry his bags and half carry him through the airport, check him in, when we arrived in Bangkok help him to lie down on the floor and find a doctor to give him some quick treatment, and watch over him all the way to Tokyo. It was a rare privilege to be able to minister to one who for all his life had served me in the high and low points of my own life, and had done the same for others.

When I exhort young leaders to be “kingdom seekers not empire builders” it is usually Irv that I have in mind.

Irv’s care for others came through clearly last week in the hospital. Just before he was moved to hospice care we had a brief visit. His eyes were open, and I knew he could listen and respond a bit. I talked about the years we had shared, the crowds we had appeared before, the many who had given their lives to Christ.

“Tell some stories,” he whispered. “Personal.”

“About people whose lives were changed?” I asked.

He nodded.

So I thought quickly and told some stories about changed lives – rowdy high school students in northeast Philadelphia, punk rockers in Southampton, England, an atheist in Vancouver, a student body president in Wellington, New Zealand.

He listened. Took it in. It was the persons, not the crowds, that he wanted to hear about.

“Some day,” I said, “we will sing All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name with all of them in heaven.”

He paused. Then breathed, “Need to make reservations.”

“Make reservations? For everyone?” I asked.

“Everyone makes their own ,” he replied.

“You made yours a long time ago, didn’t you?”

“I sure did.” His answer was low. But sure.

“I sure did.”

And I am sure today he would want to say: be sure you have made your reservation – that you have given your life to the Lord he knew and loved and served.

It was written of Barnabas that “he encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts” (Acts 11:23).

Irv did that. And he wants us to remain true – you, his family, his friends, his neighbors.

When Paul finished his great chapter on the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15), about the new bodies believers will have, about how we will be changed and put on immortality, how did he conclude? Not by saying, “Because Christ died for us and was raised we can go to heaven.” That’s true. But instead he concluded

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)

Irv not only believed that. Irv lived that.

On one of my last visits, when he seemed to be totally out of it, Marilyn and I heard him faintly singing. I leaned close and heard him sing, over and over,

“Let me sing on … let me sing on.”

Yes, Irv. You will sing on.

The last thing he said to me was, “”Let’s take a walk on the grounds.”

What grounds did he mean? I am not quite sure.

But I think he must have had in mind that lovely garden of God, in the new Jerusalem, when heaven and earth are one, and all things are restored to their eternal rightness. All will be “arete” – fulfilling God’s great purpose.

And so I want to say: we will, dear husband, father, grandfather, brother, friend, servant of the Lord, my pal.

We will walk those grounds together.

Leighton Ford

Thursday, September 4, 2008

blog from Out of Ur

Olympic Shifts
What new global realities mean for the church

Shifts happen all the time—shifts in economics, politics, theology, church, and culture. But we usually don’t comprehend the full nature of the shift until much later. One subtle shift happened in Beijing last week. You may have missed it amid the pageantry of the Olympic opening ceremonies.

Many consider it an historic event for modern China to host the Olympic Games, and the show proved to be amazing. It was an experiential canvas of creativity few have ever seen before on such a scale: techno-utopian shows, creative and innovative artistry, massive numbers of participants synchronizing poetry through dance and song. The opening ceremony masterfully put the world on notice: a shift has occurred. Here’s what I saw communicated:

1. China is increasingly more open to the “barbarians”
In one of the most beautiful sequences in the ceremony, the dancers displayed the Great Wall reflecting one of the most notable metaphors of China. It was a reminder to the world that barbarians weren’t welcomed. Things have changed. The dancers transformed the walls of China into a bridge of flowers. Sure, the doors may still be closed in many respects--human rights and religious freedoms are still lagging in China--but there seems to be a growing openness in the culture. This is probably the result of many who have prayed and fueled the movement of the Holy Spirit.

2. Skin color and racial stereotypes are becoming irrelevant
Did you see the group of children representing the 51 different cultures of China! China, like so many other places today, is multi-cultural. A group of young people is emerging that some call Third Culture—a wave of people who will lead the missiological movement because of their ability to adapt to different cultures. Being comfortable moving between cultures all of their lives, these people will be more equipped to become all things to all men.

3. China is not just about copying things
The Chinese have a heritage of being some of the most creative and artistic people on the planet. The opening ceremony showed that China wasn’t content to copy what other countries have done in the past. They created an innovative experience unlike any before. New ideas are coming from Asia, and not just the West. Although most Christians see the West as the center of Christian activity and mission in the world, some are now predicting that Korea will soon outpace America when it comes to missiological initiative.

So what does this mean for the church? I believe an ecclesiastical and theological shift is happening too. An expanded and new wave of theological scholarship and creative ministry expressions will take shape and continue to fuel God’s global movement, and these will increasingly come from outside Western cultures. The emergence of China and other Asian powers on the world stage parallels what’s happening in the church.

How should we respond as Americans? One practical thing to do is experience what God is doing globally by reading a macro perspective of the shifts happening in Asia by authors like Fareed Zakaria. I highly recommend The Post-American World. It’s an inexpensive trip to take a journey with your mind.

Secondly, I’d encourage you to take a vision trip overseas—not to serve as much as to learn. There are great partnership groups like World Vision, or you can email me at dave.gibbons@newsong.net and I will put you in touch with great groups I work with in Asia and beyond. There is no better way to experience a great move of God than by being in the middle of one. If you do that, watch out… you may never be the same. I know because it happened to me.

Monday, September 1, 2008

new music video from slum peasants (xealot)

this is part of xealot record label, featuring guys from newsong.