What Was, What Is, and What May Someday Be...

Dear Friends and Faithful Readers,
Below is the text of a letter I sent out to several people via snail mail. If, after reading, you desire to be a part of the team financially, please leave a comment on the bottom of the blog with your snail mail address and I will send you the materials. If you prefer to just read, please, sit back and enjoy. Feel free to respond, critique, question... what have you!

Cheers!

What Was, What Is, and What May Someday Be...
Dear Friends,
Many of you remember when I was hospitalized in the Summer of 2004. "Deep Vein Thrombosis in the Upper Left Extremity requiring a First-Rib Resection" is what they told me I had. In plain English, that means that I had a blood clot, and they had to do surgery to fix it. What I heard was, "Adam. This is God. You asked me to make it clear, so here's the deal. You will not enlist in the Marine Corps. I want you to move to Portland, and enroll at Multnomah Bible College."

I moved to Portland in January 2005, and declared for Pastoral Ministries. In the course of three semesters at Multnomah, I have experienced the breakup of my family and cut off relationship with my father, lived through minor homelessness, accumulated a 0.8 GPA resulting in academic dismissal, racked up a hefty amount of debt, wrecked my best friend's car without insurance, lost my only appendix, battled with depression and self-isolation, and questioned my faith very seriously.

Since I was a kid, I have wanted to be in ministry. Initially, I wanted to be a youth pastor. When I moved to Portland, I began attending a church plant called Mosaic. It was the first time I can remember being exposed to the idea of church planting. Though the church was only 2 years old, they were already planting a sister church across the river from Portland, in Vancouver. I was intrugued with the concept, and began to "what if". My idea of what I wanted to do in ministry began to change.

That summer, I went home to Bellevue, and lived with Tom and Karla Cowan. I worked as a youth intern at Crossroads Bible Church. The speaker at the High School group's retreat that summer was Mike Brantley. Mike had spoken at the High School Camp my senior year, and we had really connected there. He and his wife, Susanne, were church planters in New Zealand. After the camp, Mike stayed a few nights at Tom and Karla's. I remember one night in particular. Mike and I stayed up late, and we started to talk about my family. He listened to me. He held me as I wept. He told me that he wished he could stay in Seattle and be a father to me.

I went back to school. During my last semester at Multnomah (Spring 2006), I began seeing a counselor to process through everything that had happened in the last two years. I was also taking classes - one of which was titled "Theology and Polity". In it, we were forced to answer two questions: "What is the Essence of the Church?" and "What is the Purpose of the Church?" Concurrently, I was involved in a discussion group led by a local planter and pastor that discussed the idea of Church and the Postmodern Culture. Despite failing most of my classes (including Polity), the things I was learning and being forced to consider were revolutionary to me.

During a visit home in July, 2006, Tom Cowan mentioned that Mike and Susanne were in Portland for the summer. He gave me Mike's cell number and email, and Mike and I got together in August. We met for coffee at a little hole-in-the-wall on Hawthorne Blvd, called Common Grounds Cafe. We caught up on life, and Mike filled me in on a new vision he had. He wanted to move to a United States city that was edgy and cultural, and plant a church centered around a neighborhood, specifically targeted to the people right there. He had the Hawthorne District in mind. (For those of you from Seattle, Hawthorne is a bit like Capitol Hill and Fremont or Ballard mixed up, with a dash of the Ave. It is populated mostly by indie-rock fans, vegans, hippies, struggling artists, and baristas.) Mike called this "infiltration". It is just the simple act of building relationships with people, and being Jesus to them. Simple.

Near the end of our conversation, Mike invited me to live with his family and become a part of their ministry as kind of a neo-monastic move, common life and ministry. Mike and Susanne left at the end of August, to visit family in New Orleans, and ended up deciding to begin their new life there. After seeing the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, they said they couldn't walk away. Their offer to me still stands. Knowing that I need to stay in Portland until I finish my degree, finish counseling, and pay my debt, I told Mike that it would be a while before I'd join him.

Since Mike invited me to New Orleans, I've spent much time praying and considering whether this is what I "should do"... What is my motive - Mike, or what he's doing? Why? How could I contribute? Is this a place I could use my gifts? What is it really like down there - am I over-romaticizing this idea? What about my family - am I willing to move that far away from them? Does my heart break for the people of New Orleans? How uncomfortable am I willing to be? What will I have to give up? Am I willing to give up everything for people who have already lost everything? I am "counting the cost". Mike has extended me an open invitation to visit - to come and see.

I am taking him up on the offer. On June 29, I am going as part of a team sent by Crossroads Bible Church, to experience the life of an urban missionary for a week. The purpose of the trip is to provide college students an opportunity to consider the mission field as a calling. I am already feeling that call. I go seeking the answers to questions: "Is this the place? Are these the people I will serve? Can I do this, or is this another of my 'dreams'?"

I am sending this letter to you because, in some way, the relationship I have had with you has shaped me, impacted me. As I go, I covet your prayer. Pray that my somewhat calloused heart is made fresh as I prepare for this experience. Pray that as I find myself face to face with people who have lost everything, I would be able and willing to give up everything for their sake.

This is the part of the letter that I hate writing. I hate asking for handouts. So I will put it into different terms. As someone who has had an impact on my life, would you consider partnering with me to have an impact on someone else's life? After I write this letter, I will go home and sleep in a warm bed, in a "clean" room in a house. There are hundreds of thousands who will sleep tonight in a FEMA trailer no bigger than most people's kitchens, in the front yard of their flooded house. While there, our team will be working demolition and construction in the Lower Ninth Ward. Before the hurricane, this was a poor neighborhood, and it is one of the areas that sustained the worst damage. Little has been accomplished to help the people living here.

The total cost of the trip is $14,000. It falls to each team member to raise $500 in partnering support, and to contribute $500 from our own pockets. Attached is a letter from Matt, our "Fearless Leader". This letter describes the purpose of the trip as it pertains to the team. I have told you the purpose of this trip for me, as a quest of sorts. Whether you contribute $5 or $50, or are not able to financially partner with me this time, please pray. I will post updates leading up to the trip on my blog: www.confusionbreedsprogress.blogspot.com, and will send another letter when I return.

Thank you for being in my life, for believing in me, and for loving me.

Pour la glorie du Pere, et pour les habitants de la Nouvelle Orleans,

Adam Orion Nevins

P.S.
Here are Mike's blogs. You can get an idea the kind of guy he is, and the ministry he is doing...
mikeandsusannesworld.blogspot.com
out-on-a-limb.blogspot.com
This is the website for Crossroads, the sending church for our team...
cbccross.org
My blog...
confusionbreedsprogress.blogspot.com
My church in Portland...
imagodeicommunity.com