Party Evangelizing!
Soundtrack: “Seven Months” by Portishead

I had a day today. It started at 8 a.m. when Joe woke me up. I had forgotten that today was Habitat For Humanity day. So off we headed to Saudi Aurora, to some neighborhood off in the boonies. Practically Kansas, folks. I think we were near Tower and E-470, but I honestly have no idea if that is where we actually were. We got there just a little after 9 that morning, started working at about 9:30, broke for an hour lunch, and then continued until about 3:30 p.m. And I have to say it was one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. The house was mostly done, we were simply painting and installing electrical. I did my first ever electrical socket and I'm nearly a pro now... if I needed to rewire the house, I probably could! Well, not the whole thing, but at least the outlets.

Afterwards Joe and I grabbed a beer at an English Pub in the area (where we got to see Germany narrowly edge out Argentina) and talked about Genesis. Joe has some exciting ideas that he brought back from his travels in Europe. If everything goes smoothly, I think Genesis will become an amazing body of faith here in our fair city and a great way to reach out to the unchurched. The key to Genesis is being genuine... we’re not handing out tracts, we’re not threatening people with the idea that they are going to burn in Hell, we're not ramming anything down anyone’s throat at all. Instead, it’s party evangelism... showing people that we have a faith but doing so in a laid back atmosphere. Think a bunch of people at a BBQ or a potluck or at a bar and talking about God. That's Genesis in it's simplest form. Because God is about Love and forming relationships with us. Not Hellfire and Brimstone.

As we were talking we both threw out the idea that forming a microbrewery would be a lot of fun. And Joe threw out the idea of putting a little story on the bottles. Each brew would have a different biblical story behind it, such as a German Dunkelbier akin to what Martin Luther would have crafted (yup, he made his own beer) and related to the Reformation. In other words... Devotional beer! Frankly, I think it's genius!

Come to think of it, some of our best brainstorming and idea sharing has been over a nice cold pint. Because as we all know, beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy!