A Tangible Example of Missional Engagement

I am so excited to share this YouTube video with you! This 6 minute video documents the recent events in the life of a small missional Adventist community in the community of Carnegie in Greater Pittsburgh. The pastor in this video, Andrew Clark, is a friend of mine and we pastored together in Pennsylvania for a short time before I moved to L.A. Later this year I'll be spending some time talking with these guys about their community's life and future, but as you can see from this video, they are well on their way.

Andrew writes:
As many of you know, we have been searching for a home for two years in the Pittsburgh Metro area.  Although we found a place to set up shop, our whole project in Pittsburgh hinged on small-town politics, and it did not look good for us.  So we asked our supporters to come to borough council and speak on our behalf to see if we could put the decision in God's hands through the voice of the community He has been speaking to through our mingling, sympathy and meeting needs. Not only did the community show up in droves, but they made a short film of it.  A friend of our makes commercials for Comcast and regularly films town meetings.  After the meeting, I asked him if he could turn a three-hour meeting into a 5 minute short to help our friends get the gist of what went down!  The result is a secular view of not only the meeting, but of Adventist Community Services Greater Pittsburgh.  The film has NO Adventists involved in the production, make-up, or action in the film, other than a few clips of what I said at council.  It is my desire to show our church that we can be the difference we want to see in our communities, and that at least in our small corner of Metro Pittsburgh where Adventism was unheard of two years ago and no Adventist has ever set foot in our community prior to our arrival; regardless, the community gets us, whether the traditional churches looking on do or not.  I hope films like this can bridge that gap.

Also, click here to read the article in the local paper (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) about this hearing. Way to go guys! You inspire us!