Rob's Pleasure Journey vs. My Selfdeprecation

My day started with a trip to San Antonio, then to San Diego, then to San Jose. Then a quick car ride down the highway to Santa Clara. So many saints... I can't tell if this trip is blessed or ironic. Here's me waiting... how I spent the most of the day.

The run down: South Bay church is located at the south of the bay, obviously. It is in Silicon Valley, about an hour outside of San Fransisco proper. The Bay Area (area around the bay) has over 7 million people, with approximately 96% of that being unchurched. The South Bay area has around 2.5 million, with 95% unchurched. The other 5% are classified as: "Evangelical, Catholic, Mormon and Jehovah's Witness". Awesome. In the area around the school where the church meets, there are around 5,000 people in apartments. Within a 1 mile radius - 15,000 people; 3 mile radius - 77,000 people; 5 mile radius - 350,000; 7 mile radius - 784,000. 60% of the population is under 35 years old, 75% is under 44 years old. The last 5 or so church plants here that were affiliated with the Southern Baptist convention have failed after a few months, for various reasons.

For many people, this is the cultural hub of our generation. Facebook, Ebay, Google, Cisco Systems, and Sun Microsystems all have their headquarters here. So does Canon and some other giant corporations. This is a huge technological hub, and it plays a big role in forming our culture, and for the most part, it is unreached by the message of hope that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So, here we are. Willing hands and feet, hoping to do our part to spread the news about a church that is passionate and loving, that is in the midst of this community, bringing hope and love to a community that by and large, hasn't heard about hope and love. The opportunity for cultural influence and change that South Bay church has here is enormous, and Andy, Filipe and Archie are all burdened with the desire to see God glorified and change brought to the hearts and minds of this community. It is with expectant hearts and eager hands that we join with them in their ministry for this week. May the Lord bless the work of our hands, and your sacrifices.

Ok, serious stuff is out of the way, on to the goofy. This is a classy neighborhood people. Classy with a C, not a K. Imagine Firewheel Mall, but with million dollar homes and a school by it. Here's some pictures: The school and the field are near the shopping center/hotel area, which is on the corner of the whole neighborhood area. Imagine Firewheel Mall, but with all the area around it with the nicest looking homes you've ever seen. Apparently, the median income for the area is over $100k. So, it is important to understand that our hotel, in this area, is really nice. It has a HD tv in the room. And a pool/spa/hot tub. So... we are really roughing it. Really. I told Rob, "It isn't a mission trip unless you have a chance of catching malaria." Rob said, "I didn't bring you on a mission trip, I brought you on a Pleasure Journey." Which, in addition to being an unfortunate turn of phrase, has also become our theme.

Our plans for tomorrow include setting up and breaking down the church in the school, and then taking the rest of the afternoon off to sight see and relax (this usually happens at the end of the trip, but for us, it is at the beginning. See above under: Pleasure Journey). Monday and Tuesday we are stuffing Easter eggs (they had 2,500 people at the Easter Egg hunt last year), passing out 6000+ door hangers, and making gift baskets for the teachers at the school. Rob and I were talking, and it seems like we aren't 'doing' a whole lot on this trip, at least, nothing that seems like it justifies the expense of sending us here, especially for me, since it wasn't my money. I hope that I'm just being dumb, and not seeing the big picture, and I pray that the Lord blesses the staff of South Bay and the people of this community by your gifts and our service. I've never been in a position before where my opportunity to serve God has been the direct result of fellow believer's gifts. Thank you, and I hope its worth it.