Matt Smay

I was recently downloading a new update to a program on my computer (won’t mention the culprit), but after about 5 minutes of downloading the following message appeared,
 

Installing – This may take a while…

Have you ever wondered why anything worth doing seems to come with that message? I’ve been reflecting lately on the past few years of ministry and I’m struck by the consistent theme – most of the best stuff has taken a long time to develop. Whether a book, a new training, a new community, or ministry strategy – it often takes years to accomplish something new and innovative. This is not just an idea or concept relegated to the ministry world. I’ve had two girls, and in the midst of each of my wife’s pregnancies, I remember the hurdles – pregnancy test, first heart beats, ultrasound (it’s a girl!), and the long awaited delivery.

You know the deal, whether it’s starting a relationship, finding the perfect job, landing a big opportunity, or starting a new church…it all takes time – usually too much time in my book!

As I look at this year, I’ve been wrestling with a theme. I think it’s going to be centered on ‘love’. Strange theme for a guy like me. Afterall, I like to hunt – with a bow, I never cry, love to rough-it when I camp, I’m the big brother type, the kind of guy that rarely, if ever, shows emotion…But since I take this yearly theme pretty serious, I’ve spent a few months listening to God, keeping attentive to the unique coincidences, and the obvious connections in the day-to-day. Even though I’d rather focus on some attribute like courage, love is the theme I’ve been dealt.

Unfortunately for me, when my mind wanders for even a second, I jump to that familiar scripture, ‘Love is patient…” hope you know the rest because this is as far as I’ve gotten. Seems to me that everything that matters most in my life has been developed over time and has taken a great deal of patience. For me, it has always involved a thorough process of learning and adapting, which has also included some failure and the occasional big success.  Part of my job is to train church planters and coach existing church leaders, and I’m sure the ones reaching their goals would all agree that sticking with it was the hardest struggle. Just a little fair warning, I think starting a missional community or moving an existing church to be more incarnational is one of the hardest things to do, but it’s also one of the most rewarding. I’ve noticed that it’s the front-end investment of time and energy that discourages most in the long journey of  change. For what it’s worth,  I laughed out loud, as  I read, “This may take a while…”

I’m often asked, “What does a Village (an Adullam Community) really look like? While this is a big question that we attempt to answer in the Tangible Kingdom by describing how we integrate communion, community, and mission – Below are a few things that we’ve experienced lately:

• Our Village is the people we can call in the middle of the night, and relied on to watch our daughter for two days while my wife was in the hospital delivering our second baby.
• Our Village makes decisions about where to buy their homes based on proximity to each other.
• Our Village is the people we ask to give advice when we’re making our biggest life decisions.
• Our Village spends time with each other beyond our normal meeting times.
• Our Village is the people we party with during holidays, vacations, and special occasions (Super Bowl, BCS, and World Series).
• Our kids can’t wait for our Village so they can see their friends, and our 2 year old knows all the adults by name.
• When people in our Village call – we always pick up.
• Our Village blends conversations about everyday life and God naturally.
• Our Village is basically our extended family in Colorado.

Madison Smay was born last Friday. She came into the world a healthy 19.5 inches and just shy of 7 lbs.

Just in case you’re wondering what I’ve been doing since the last time I posted – here’s a quick list:

• Attended Leadership Network’s – Voices of Missional Movements conference in Dallas.
• Hosted our yearly Missio Intensive in Denver.
• Finished working on the rough draft of The Tangible Kingdom – A Primer to Incarnational Community (should be released in April 2009).
• Kicked off another Missional Church Apprenticeship Practicum (MCAP) cohort.
• Finished getting the house in order for our baby girl that’s due in early November.
• Spent a wonderful summer with family, friends, and neighbors.

While I’ve been short on time lately, the break has been good for stirring up thoughts for a number of posts that will be coming soon…