Cham::2::Seattle

My Story

MY STORY

The Summer of 2008 will be a turning point in my life forever. It was where my life and all that I built it up to be came crashing down. The kingdom I had been building had been reduced to rubble. Through trials and situations, God begin to purge my life. He purged it of...me. For the last 9.5 years of being a pastor/believer, I served in two capacities. I served God and I sought making "Cham" great. For the longest, I did this. I was prideful, arrogant, & selfish. I accomplished great things for God, but at the expense missing out on a deep intimacy with Him. I didn't live a double life or have any character mishaps, I just was about me. And so, this world of mine crashed to a heap of dirt. Then...my journey began.
Going through that summer was extremely tough and painful, but my pit had a purpose. God began to build Himself up in my life. In fact, He told me that now I am going to catch your character up with your calling. So for the first time, I began to understand what it meant to live humbly, to walk in a radical faith, and to genuinely love others (friend or foe). I came to the place where I told God..."No matter what you call me to do..Afghanistan or in a small rural town, I will follow You no matter how crazy it looks or sounds to me." Who knew what was to come. So at the end of the summer and much faith rebuilding, God sent me to Seattle for two weeks via filming a church plant in Arlington, WA (50 minutes north of Seattle). My friend Tim Corbin was the pastor of this plant. during the two weeks, I was able to experience the highs and lows of church planting. I watched and marveled at how each day had its on personality and adventures. I was like "wow..this is intense". I had the privilege to meet a lot of the locals. The people where awesome! Very fun to be with and I guess being a Bama-boy entertained them as well. I had a lot of interesting conversations with them. I began to realize that I wasn't in the South any more. You see the Northwest is home to a culture that is 90% unchurched. If you are from the South, then everybody from your Neighbor to their pets knows about Jesus (kidding but somewhat true). In the Northwest, most haven't set foot in a church much less understands or has heard the real truth of the Gospel. It was mind blowing.
So my life took a dramatic turn, when I woke up two days before I was to go back home. I remember opening my eyes, sitting up in bed, and saying..."why does this feel like my home?" This was the first time I really felt that Seattle was a "God-possibility". It was so awkward, but so alive. I prayed awhile and kept getting the same feeling. I talked with Tim and decided to give it some time and see. I think He could already tell that I wasn't feeling this way because of the cool factor. So, two day later I left back for Alabama. I remember getting on the airplane in Seattle and sitting down to the craziest feeling ever. My eyes began to water up and deep in my heart was saying, "You are leaving your home." It blew my mind! I have never felt this way about any place, even where I grew up. So, I got back to Birmingham and decided to give myself some time for prayer and processing.
After 2 months of seeking God in this, I come to the conclusion that God is calling me to Seattle. I think the eye-opener is that I couldn't stop thinking of the people. I really never fell in love with the sites or city, just the people. I remember thinking about them all the way home and even weeks after. I have never felt so passionate for a people group like I do for the people of the Northwest. So after counsel, prayer, and wisdom, I determined and confirmed God's calling on my life in the Northwest.
This is a huge step of faith for me. I would not have considered this if God hadn't of changed who I was this past summer. It is a scary risk, but one that I am passionately willing to take for Him and for the people of the Northwest.
I plan now to raise enough support to live out in Arlington, WA and work on The Common's Leadership team. I will be serving in all types of capacities such as student ministry, media, and whatever else needs to be done. I plan to work at a local coffee shop part time to get insurance and ultimately to get plugged in to the community and reach out to them.
So, this is my story. I would love for you to be a part of this vision that God has for the Northwest people. You can do so by financial support, prayer, and other ways. You can find all of this info in the Right Column including online giving. Thanks for your interest and support!
For His Glory!
Cham

Monday Night Football is a blessing.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

It has been incredibly cool seeing how Monday Night Football can do some much greatness in a guy's life. What do you mean? About a month or so ago, we (leadership) decided that we wanted to get all the men of the church connected to each other. So we figured the best way to do it is through something that speaks to men...(lightbulb) NFL Football. NFL is a big deal here. We have the Seahawks that play in Seattle, so it makes sense.

The idea is to gather all the guys by meeting at somebody's house each Monday night to watch football. There guys can talk, eat, cheer, and laugh around the game of football. For weeks, it grew into a success, then we starting thinking. Why not go a step further? Why not have a Bible study before we get started. With the incredible discovery of DVR (aka Tivo), we had the ability catch up with the the game when the study time is over. Tim (pastor) suggested going through "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge. So we began.

Over the course of 5 weeks now, I have seen a group of men develop into a Band of Brothers. In past two weeks, I have seen our men really open up, challenge one another, encourage each other, and realize that we are all in this together when it comes to being a man of Christ. I think the interesting thing now is that our discussions are getting longer, deeper, and more important to the point that we almost forget about the game. It is just amazing seeing all of the men grow. It is exciting to see male leadership in our church begin to develop. Who knew that MNF (Monday Night Football) could be such a tool.

-Cham

The area that I live in...

Saturday, November 14, 2009

I bold/italicized the part that describe the culture I am in.

Article from christianpost.com:

The top ten most religious states in America are all located in the south or southern Midwest, according to a new Gallup report.All ten states are part of the so-called “Bible Belt,” or the area in the United States with a heavy socially conservative evangelical Protestant population. They are, starting with the most religious: Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Kentucky and Texas, which are tied.

The Gallup report ranked each state’s religiousness by asking respondents if religion is an important part of their daily life.

Overall, analysis shows that a solid majority of Americans said religion is important in their daily lives. A full 65 percent of Americans across the entire U.S. population gave this response.

On the other hand, about one in three American adults said religion is not important in their lives, while one percent either responded they don’t know or refused to answer.

Breaking down the data by states, 60 to 70 percent of the population in 23 states said religion is important.

Religion seems to be less important to those living in the New England area and the far West.

The top ten least religious states, starting from the least religious are: Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Rhode Island, Nevada, and Connecticut.

The results are based on telephone interviews with 355,334 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted in 2008 as part of the Gallup Poll Daily tracking. The report is the second of a four-part series on the “State of the States.”

Commons Ladies Retreat

(Phone Pic from the retreat center)

Keep The Commons Ladies in your prayers this weekend. Yesterday, 20+ ladies headed for the mountains for an overnight retreat with speaking, worship, and "gal" time. The ladies will be suffering in a winter wonderland as you can see from the blackberry picture taken from one of them. This is an exciting time for The Commons because of all the new ladies joining in on the retreat as well as just 1st time visitors. Please be praying for the God will really impact this retreat with Himself, impact the ladies' lives, and to provide safe travels home tonight. Every year this event brings back some awesome "God stories". So we are definitely excited.

-cham

A fan page

Thursday, November 12, 2009

I have recently created a fan page on Facebook to help all of my FB friends/supporters get the info that is posted on here. Sometimes blogs can be forgotten, so I am taking the God stories to the social networks. So if you have a Facebook account, then look me up. The address is:

http://tinyurl.com/FBCHAMFAN

The idea is to get more and more people involved with the ministry that is taking place up here.

-cham

November's E-Letter

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Below are two forms of the November E-Letter that I have sent out. I am still trying to figure out how to capture the full html (pictures/color/etc) of the email and put it in to PDF form. So I am experimenting a little. One file below is the PDF version with no pics or color. The other file is an actually apple email that I saved off line (maybe it will work) that has everything on it.

Plain PDF -----> Cham's Nov. E-letter

Actually E-mail ----- Cham's Nov. E-letter

**This file may or may not work. Any feedback on this file, if it does or

does not would be appreciated.

Please keep me in your prayers. I am financially to a point where I have to make a hard decision. I have to either raise a substantial amount of money to continue to serve full time or pursue a full time job which could possibly limit my time to minister.

If you would like to support me financially, then check out in the upper right corner of this blog or e-mail at cham.i.am@gmail.com. Thank you for taking the time to check out what God is doing in the Pacific Northwest. I also want to thank you for all of your prayers, support, and contributions.

-cham

And the growth continues...

Sunday, November 8, 2009

We had 113 people today (including adults & children/preschool). Incredible!!!

We keep growing and growing in Pioneer. Our move alone has increased students participating in worship and serving. We have had more and more new families visit and connect. It's amazing how God keeps using The Commons.

-- Post From Cham's Phone

Commons Students: 1st Annual Girls Sleepover

Friday, November 6, 2009

Tonight will be the first of many Commons Students: Annual Girls Sleepover. Prayerfully about 15-20 girls will head over to Amy Corbins house for a night of laughs, fun, & most of all COMMUNITY. My prayer is that this event will be one of many that draw the girls in the student ministry closer together. Wednesdays and Sundays are hard to get students connected because of all the hustle and bustle, so lets be intentional. Keep Amy & a few other ladies in your prayers as they endure an all nighter tonight. Thank you for all your prayers and suppport! We are in this together.

-Cham

::Ways to Support::

1) Pray - Your prayers are needed in the beginning and at the end of this journey. It is the most important part of this mission.

2) Financial Support - Your financial support helps me to carry out the mission that God has called me on. It enables me to live in the Seattle area and carry out ministry daily along side the church plant that I will be helping (The Commons).
You can financial support in different ways:
1) One time giving
2) Monthly or Quarterly Giving
3) Students can buy a Seattle Missions (t-shirt) and the proceeds help support me in Seattle.
4) Get your church, small group, and parents involved with this support.

***Remember this support is to extend the Message of Christ to the Northwest.
I will be on Leadership at The Commons, but not paid. Therefore, I have to raise
support.

3) Introduce this blog page to your friends.

4) Plan a mission trip to Seattle. One of my missions is to be a connection for mission groups.

I mention all of this to encourage you to prayerfully consider supporting God's Vision for me and for the Northwest. If you have any questions, you can message me or email at cham.i.am@gmail.com

Cham::2::Seattle

Follow me on Twitter

Archives

My Story

MY STORY

About Me

Monday Night Football is a blessing.

The area that I live in...

Commons Ladies Retreat

A fan page

November's E-Letter

And the growth continues...

Commons Students: 1st Annual Girls Sleepover

Seattle Missions: Cham McCutchen's Fan Box

Contact Info::

::Online Giving::

My 3 Year Financial Goal

Links

::Financial Support by Mail::

::Ways to Support::