This past Sunday, we talked about what it means to know Christ and what it means to value knowing Christ more than we value all other things in life.

It struck me that Kairos is a place where this is a lived reality. In many ways, our community demonstrates and embodies the desire to know Christ (in both belief and action) and the willingness to forsake other things of "value" in surrendering to Christ.

It is a beautiful thing to be a part of a community marked by sacrifice and surrender...a community that finds grace, meaning, and value in the journey.

Here these words inspired by the above passage from Paul to the Philippians church:

For those who weren't at the weekly gathering this past Sunday, Greg talked beforehand on what we mean when we say "Equippers." Instead of talking about Pastors at kairos, which word holds significant meaning in itself, we refer to our Pastors as Equippers, and each of our four Equippers takes on a particular role in leadership. We've derived the word from the sacred text where the Apostle Paul talks about those who equip, or "Equippers."

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love. - Eph 4:11-16

We have four equippers currently serving at kairos hollywood, and we refer to them not with the five words above that seem to have either lost their original meaning, or maybe just sound freaky. Below are the five equippers, their re-translated names, as well as the definition under which each of us equippers function.

Dream Awakener/Apostle [Don Chesworth]: The primary concern of the dream awakener is to help people and communities live out their calling in the church and world. They do this by cultivating a practicing environment, calling people to join God in the renewal of all things. They cultivate the growth of the kingdom by multiplying disciples, ministries and congregations by bringing an overall cohesion and strategic focus to the community. While they can wear any of the equipper’s hats, they seek to build a team of equippers who activate the entire body to fulfill God’s mission in the world through the church.

Heart Revealer/Prophet: The primary concern of the heart revealer is that the congregation is walking with God meaning that they are living in the Spirit as well as standing with the poor and the oppressed. They do this by cultivating a challenging environment that dares people to embody a holistic gospel by forming spirit-imbibed contrast communities who follow in the way of Jesus.

Story Teller/Evangelist [Greg Larson]: The primary concern of story tellers is helping the community to embody the good news in their neighborhood. They help to cultivate a welcoming environment that helps the community practice hospitality as a way of life. They invite the congregation to find concrete ways to bless their neighbors and live as journalists who publish the good news broadly. They help the community to live and share the good news.

Soul Healer/Pastor [Audrey Blumber]: The primary concern of soul healers is helping people to pursue wholeness in the context of community. They do this by cultivating a healing environment where people feel safe to be real and move from their false selves toward authentic community. They create a sense of family and belonging, helping the congregation to love one another, encourage one another, exhort one another, get along with each other, comfort one another as well as play with one another. They help the community live emotional healthy lives, where they learn to give voice to their strengths and attention to their weaknesses.

Light Giver/Teacher [David Kludt]: The primary concern of light givers is that the community is being shaped by the sacred text. They create a learning environment where people immerse themselves in the scriptures in order to be formed by them. They shed light on the text in such a way that people hear the voice of God through the scripture. They encourage people to participate in sacred assemblies so that God’s story re-shapes them. They seek to help people understand God’s narrative so that they may live faithful to the God of the story and become signposts of the New Creation.

If you ever want to know more about the Equippers and our roles, feel free to chat us up about them.

-don chesworth
dream awakener
kairos hollywood

This past gathering we spoke about how Jesus called Simon the Rock, and that he "left everything and followed him" (Luke 5:11). Through experience with life, we learn that no matter how much hard work, experience, skill, and wisdom we have, that our successes and "following the rules" leave us unsatisfied. Yet, through experience with Jesus, "we are continually surprised by how fruitful obedience to God can be." (Following Jesus: A Disciple's Guide to Luke and Acts, William Kurz, S.J.)

This obedience in following the call is unique to each of us. Shane Claiborne in "Irresistible Revolution" says, "The more I read the Scriptures, the more uncertain I become about my plans for the future, or even of the wisdom of making plans in the first place, since God seems to be in the business of messing them up… What would Peter have said? “Well, I was going to be a fisherman, but then I met this dude, and he messed all that up.” I remembered Mother Teresa saying, “Do not worry about your career. Concern yourself with your vocation, and that is to be lovers of Jesus.”… I heard about a group of massage therapists who spend their days washing and massaging the tired feet of homeless folks… On some of our marches for peace and justice, chiropractors join us in the evenings to take care of people’s tired bodies so that we will be ready for another day of marching… The examples are as numerous as the number of vocations. But the calling is the same: to love God and our neighbors with our whole lives, careers, and gifts.”

In determining how to answer this call, the two things that held back Peter tend to be the same things that hold us back, and cause us to say, "Go away from me Lord" (Luke 5:8). These are confessing our unwillingness, and confronting our unworthiness. Below are three simple prayers that I think can help us take one step closer to Jesus. Let's each pick one and pray to God this week:

• Lord, I confess that I attribute my success to my wisdom and my hard work. Please help me learn to attribute my hard work and my wisdom to your grace and generosity.
• Lord, I confess that not only feel unblessed, but feel that my hard work and effort entitle me to more than I have. Instead, I wish to be content with your relentless love for me.
• Lord, right now I prefer to live a life of illusion – where I follow rules, success, security, comfort, and predictability. Please help me leave it all and choose the authentic life of submission, depravity, insecurity, uncomfortability, and unpredictability. I want to leave behind following the rules and instead follow the Ruler.

May we grow in our understanding of how it is we can leave everything, and what it means to transition from following the rules, to following the Ruler - the Son of God.

Yesterday at Kairos we spent some time working through the first chapter of Jeremiah, talking about the setting (verses 1-3), the sovereignty of God (verses 4-10), and the sight of God (verses 11-19). We talked about how Jeremiah was offered a chance to speak the words of God and to see the world through the eyes of God.

God's words are different than our words. God's sight is different than our sight.

In Los Angeles, we're surrounded by stories, voices, and messages coming at us from all directions. We speak many of these messages with our voice, even if we don't always realize it.

What would it look like if we took time and created space to listen for God's voice? To ask God to show us the world through new eyes?

As part of our worship response, we showed this video (thanks to the writers and photographers in our community) to offer a chance for our community to listen for the voice of God.

Beginning with Advent and journeying through the season of Pentecost, our teachings and gatherings at Kairos will be structured according to the seasons of the Christian calendar (Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, the Holy Week of Easter, and Pentecost) and will follow Year C of the Christian lectionary (which primarily uses the Gospel of Luke as the gospel text each week). As we continue talking about our seasonal vision to “move into our spaces” (see this earlier post from Don for more information on our seasonal vision), we desire to see our community experience the depth and beauty of each upcoming season of the Christian calendar.

The Advent season is a period of waiting, expecting, and anticipating the event of Christmas because Christmas is not yet here. This year for Advent, we are focusing on our “Hopes and Fears,” and exploring how our lived experience and present reality is awaiting the truth of the Christmas story. One practice that we are focusing on this season is prayer. In a world full of doubts, questions, and fears, prayer is a chance for us to be fully present before God.

To help our community engage in the journey through the Christian year, I put together a short guide to the Gospel of Luke. It has some basic information about the lectionary, an overview of Luke’s purpose, structure, themes, etc., and some suggestions for different ways of immersing yourself in the story of Jesus through the words of Luke this season.

Download/View Shedding Light on Luke's Gospel

Over the next six months of our journey, I encourage you to fully engage in the story our community is exploring. Immerse yourself in the texts that are shaping us as individuals and as a community. Ask questions about yourself, about the text, about our world, about Jesus. Endeavor to be fully present in your relationship UP to God as a child of the Father.

grace and peace,

/dave