The Glory & The Cost of Living in Silicon Valley
In the expensive areas on America’s coasts, demand is robust, because of high incomes and pleasures… California’s Santa Clara County, Silicon Valley, has a splendid Mediterranean climate and incomes that are 60 percent above the U.S. average. Unsurprisingly, people will pay plenty to live there. Between 2005 and 2007, average housing prices in the county were close to $800,000, more than four times the U.S. average. Prices have dropped since then, but according to recent sales data, the San Jose metropolitan area, which includes Santa Clara county, remained the most expensive place in the continental United States in the second quarter of 2009.
-Edward Glaeser, The Triumph of the City, pp. 188-189
Attend the Elephant Room in San Jose
Garden City Church is almost four months old. Next Wednesday we’re hosting The Elephant Room in San Jose because we want to, very early in our life as a church, hold an event that sparks important conversation, fosters thoughtful unity, and creates forward progress among Silicon Valley churches.
The Bay Area is a heavily unchurched region. We need all the help we can get out here. We need all the unity we can get out here. This past Sunday I told our church that we need to plant 1,300 churches in Santa Clara County in order to get the the 1-church-per-every-1,000-people mark that many say is the tipping point at which the gospel begins to dramatically saturate a city (and this isn’t accounting for the 33% population growth we’re projected to have here over the next 25 years).
I know some people criticize The Elephant Room, thinking this event will create disunity rather than unity in the church. I disagree. I believe that by thoughtfully talking about the elephants in the room in the American church and the unchanging truth of Scripture, The Elephant Room conversations will help advance our mission here in Silicon Valley to unite around the gospel of Jesus Christ, make disciples, and plant churches.
The Neighborhood Group that I lead at my church is putting on this event. This great group of people is doing all the leg work to make this event happen. And our group is taking the money that we’ll make from the event to bless some single moms in our community. We’re excited to kill two birds with one stone: create unity through The Elephant Room and generate money we can give to single moms.
The Elephant Room is 8 days away. You should decide right now to register for The Elephant Room in San Jose and join us next Wednesday. Come by yourself, or bring a team. BONUS: We are now able to let anyone and everyone register under the discounted student rate (just $29). If you already paid the full rate, don’t get mad at me. Be thankful that your money is making this event happen and helping single moms. If you feel bitter about having paid the full rate, invite a friend and we’ll let them in for free.
466 – 127 = 339 (Let’s Fill the Sanctuary)
Yesterday I sent the following email to my church, Garden City Church. We are now 3 & 1/2 months old as a church. Please join us in praying big for Garden City Church/Silicon Valley.
Garden City,
I moved down here to start Garden City Church with just 3 people committed to the church plant. We are now a church of about 150 adults (plus a lot of kids), so we’ve grown by 4,900%. That’s a really good growth rate.
But, I’m not satisfied. And you shouldn’t be either.
This Sunday we had 127 adults at our service. The sanctuary holds 466 adults. Do the math:
466 – 127 = 339
This Sunday we had 339 open seats, seats that could’ve been filled by people who need to hear the gospel, be discipled, and join our mission. To me, that’s unacceptable. We all know so many more people in Silicon Valley who should’ve been with us this past Sunday.
We need to solve this problem together. We need to fill the sanctuary.
I’d like you to join me in taking action to solve this problem. Let’s do 2 things together:
1. Let’s pray a 3-word prayer together: “Fill the sanctuary.” I’m praying this prayer. I’m saying, “God, fill the sanctuary. Bring more and more people into our church family, fill these 339 empty seats with people who need to hear the gospel, be discipled, and join our mission.”
2. Let’s invite people (co-workers, neighbors, etc) to join us at Garden City on Sundays at 4pm.
Our mission drives this. You’ve not just joined a church, you’ve joined a mission: Making disciples to impact the city for Jesus.
We are all on this mission together.
Let’s pray. Let’s invite. Let’s fill the sanctuary.
I love our church,
Justin
Year-End Giving: Give to Garden City Church
It’s that time of the year, time to think about year-end giving. This year I’d like you to think about giving a year-end gift to Garden City Church.
This year I moved my family 30 miles south, to Silicon Valley, to start Garden City Church. On the day we moved we had just 3 people committed to the church plant and just 3,000 dollars in the church bank account. It was a move of faith, banking on God’s calling on my life and Jesus’ promise to build his church. Today Garden City Church is 11 weeks old and we have about 150 people in our church. Right now the strongest evangelist in our church is Sameer, a former Hindu who heard the gospel for the first time 3 Sundays ago, was converted, and is now telling everybody about Jesus.
In short, Jesus is doing a great work at Garden City Church and I want you to invest in it.
Garden City Church is a wise investment of your charitable giving. Our church is growing and making a real impact in Silicon Valley. Everything we do as a church is driven by our mission: Making disciples to impact the city for Jesus. What we’re experiencing these first 11 weeks is, I believe, just the beginning of the big things God want to do through our church.
You can respond to this email in 2 ways:
1) Make a year-end gift to Garden City through an online donation or by mailing a check to:
Garden City Church, 6455 Almaden Expwy Suite 207, San Jose, CA 95120
2) Become a partner of Garden City Church. Join the team of people, churches, and institutions who are investing in Garden City over the course of the next 1-2 years. Some partners are investing at the rate of $1,000 per month, others at a rate of $100 per month. To learn how to join the team, contact us at: admin[at]gardencitysanjose.com
The Strongest Evangelist in Our Church
Right now the strongest evangelist in our church is Sameer, a former Hindu who was converted through the ministry of Garden City Church just three Sundays ago. Immediately after Jesus saved Sameer, Sameer began sharing the gospel with other people and inviting them to church on Sundays and to our mid-week Neighborhood Groups. People in our church who have been Christians for decades are learning evangelism from watching Sameer, a fifteen-day-old Christian.
Friends, Jesus saves. Believe it. Preach it. Pray it. Share it.
I’m preaching my guts out at Garden City, banking on the truth that Jesus makes dead people come alive and that Jesus builds his church.
Garden City Church is ten weeks old, and Jesus is on the move. And Sameer is a fifteen days saved, and he’s begun writing about it on his own blog. Click here to read Sameer’s story in his own words. Below is the lead in:
I attended Garden City three weeks ago as a guest with my childhood friend John. It was an ordinary day and I wasn’t expecting much. During the sermon, I heard the gospel for the first time. My legs were trembling, and my heart was sweating. I felt Jesus for the first time.
Photo: Michael Ziegler
HarBowl: Growing Up Harbaugh
To all my fellow football fans, from today’s edition of the San Jose Mercury News:
For the NFL, it’s a milestone moment: Jim Harbaugh of the 49ers takes on John Harbaugh of the Baltimore Ravens in the first-ever meeting between brotherly head coaches.
It’s being billed as the HarBowl.
For little sister Joani, it was called “childhood.”
She’s had a front-row seat for the battlin’ Harbaugh brothers for as long as she can remember. She was their designated runner in games of pickle and their capacity crowd of one when they waged basketball wars in the basement on a hoop made out of a wire hanger.
You want to understand the competitive nature of the Harbaugh brothers? Try sitting between them in the back seat of the family car.
In advance of the Thanksgiving Day showdown, we called Joani Crean for a scouting report. What was it like growing up Harbaugh?
Read the whole thing. Growing up Harbaugh: Little sister shares what it was like.
The Great Tech War of 2012
Last month’s issue of Fast Company ran a fascinating article, The Great Tech War of 2012, exploring how Apple, Facebook, Google, and Amazon are battling for the future of the innovation economy. Even if you’re not interested in tech or business, this is a fascinating read on innovation and leadership.
I Love My Church
This is a guest post by Danielle Vargas, a member of Garden City Church.
I LOVE MY CHURCH
Every week, and sometimes multiple times a week, I find myself saying, “I love my church!” I love that. Here are some reasons why:
1. What you see is what you get. The people are real, honest, and want to live life with you.
2. My church is passionate about non-believers AND believers knowing Jesus and understanding the gospel.
3. My church loves my city.
4. The mission and vision aren’t just sayings on a website, it’s the fuel that drives the members.
5. The leaders are visionaries. They inspire me to dream big dreams and pray big prayers.
My heart is prone to return to its stony, selfish, original state. It quickly turns inward and focuses on me, my life, and what I want. Before I know it, this inward self-focus causes a rapid downhill decay of my once alive, flourishing and joyful heart. I think this “hardening” must be what the writer of Hebrews warns about in Hebrews 3:13: “Exhort one another… so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
It’s by coming to church and hearing the gospel that once again my stony heart is broken, and my rebellious heart rejoices in God. My layers of self-absorption are peeled off one by one and I start thinking about others. Names of co-workers, unbelieving family members, hurting people come flooding into my mind. I begin to beg God to make my heart break for them. I ask him to give me a heart that wants others to experience the power of the gospel that changed me.
Being a part of Garden City is teaching me how to live on mission and placing in me a greater passion for God’s glory than I have ever had. And strangely enough, this frees me from my self. My heart that was wrapped up in its own kingdom is freed to partake in a more magnificent and infinitely more glorious Kingdom. God is using Garden City Church to help me be a person who, “no longer lives for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Cor 5:15). I consider it my privilege to co-labor and partner with Garden City Church for the gospel. I love my church.
“These New Churches Will Undoubtedly Fail”
Last week Metro Silicon Valley ran an article on our church plant/church planting in Silicon Valley that has stirred up some great discussion.
Last Friday I was at a Bay Area coffee shop and, over the course of two hours, I got into a discussion about Jesus, the church, and culture with eight different people who were sitting at nearby tables and reading the article.
The online version of the article allows people to leave comments. The comments have been heated and interesting. A man named David left the following comment:
Young people are a lot smarter than these church folks believe. Silicon Valley is made up of people who believe in the sciences, not some silly infantile superstitious beliefs that contain no empirical evidence. These new churches will undoubtedly fail.
David’s comment is not surprising. Many church planting attempts have failed in Silicon Valley. Many churches have failed to engage the very secular culture here. And estimates say that only 4-5% of Silicon Valley is considered “churched.” This is the context in which I’m planting Garden City Church. And I love it. It’s a wonderful challenge. And my confidence isn’t in David’s words, my confidence is in Jesus’ words:
I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
