Flare Request Friday: More Crazy Please

This is a plea for crazy. People crazy enough to put their lives, finances, and hearts into the vision, mission, and community of Hopesprings in Sioux City. We need people crazy enough to believe things like:

• We are called to love and serve our city.
• We need to challenge each other to take our next steps in loving God and people.
• The church is not a building.
• It is our role to extend grace and peace to everyone we know.
• It is not our job to condemn or judge anyone. The gospel is good news.
• We need creative and passionate engagement with God's Word in the context of community.

This week's flare request is an important one in the early life of Hopesprings in Sioux City. Currently there are three couples on board with what we are doing (including ours) and a handful of others we are praying for and who are wrestling with the idea.  

In a few days we begin working through a book together that will inspire and provoke us down the road of community and mission we will be embarking on together. The goal is a conversation where we all grow in our understanding of the kind of community of faith we are seeking to cultivate in Siouxland. We hope to be provoked into the tension of loving God, people, and the city we are sent to. We are going to be doing this online in the hopes that we are able to start working together right away in October to love God and love people in the city.  

I want to ask all you to pray. To send up flares for the people who are on-board for this wild ride and for the others who will catch the vision for Hopesprings in Sioux City. Here are a couple ways I would ask you to pray specifically:

• That our hearts would break for what is broken in Sioux City.  
• That we would catch an excitement and a passion for the vision of Hopesprings in Siouxland.
• That we would be able to challenge each other in our next steps with God and people.
• That our families and marriages would flourish in the midst of this new adventure.
• That God would give us wisdom, strength, energy, and creativity for the things He will call us to do in the city.  
• That God would draw more people and resources to what He is doing through Hopesprings in Sioux City.

Are you crazy? Is God calling you into this particular brand of nuts for His kingdom? Do you maybe need to send me an email or phone call or smoke signal so we can dream together about God's kingdom in Siouxland?