NieuCommunities » San Diego

I’ve moved!

Rob Yackley — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:02:00 +0000

I've just moved to this new blog page.

I hope you'll subscribe to my new blog and follow our lives and ministry. I'll do my best to keep it fresh, informative, and fun!

Rob

heART

Gleaning the Unknown — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:20:00 +0000

Title: the SENSE-Itive man

Size: 5' 9"

Medium: Foam Blank Surfboard

Shape: Fish

Materials: Acrylic Paint with Friskit Stencils

"Sensitivity", deep feeler", and "emotional" are words and attributes that are not held in high esteem for the typical western American male. They are at war with our cultural messages of strength, dominance, and performance. This piece was inspired to bride the gap between who I think I should be and who God wants me to be. Or better put, who He has created me to be…from the beginning. In 2011, I am learning to embrace my namesake calling. David. A deep feeler, sensitive, scrapper warrior bandit. A man of emotion...for the Kingdom of God.

One of the key elements we journey through near the end of the year as apprentices of Jesus in NieuCommunities is creating a heART project. We reflect on the learnings of 2011, posturing ourselves with the understanding that God doesn’t waste any of our experiences.

How has your view changed of God or God’s Kingdom? How has it changed in your understanding of community? What have you gained? What have you lost? These are some of the questions we wrestle with as we create an experiential piece of beauty to encompass the last 365.

Collectively, we are discovering a different definition of “artist” and “art”. As we experiment and risk being “artists” we are actually participating in the unearthing of the Ultimate Artist’s irresistible, creative, explosive craftsmanship within all of us. We drew. Painted. Sculpted. Planted. Filmed. Tagged. Weaved. As we listened to each artist present their piece we received doses of heavenly inspiration through the diversity of mediums. This process is moving us toward dreaming of vibrant expressions of beauty within ourselves, for our neighborhood, and for the King.

God is still speaking in 2012 and the avenues in which we desire to respond are vast. This year may we risk. May our art reflect our heARTs. And may we encounter fresh ways of experiencing the divine because of it.

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NieuCommunities Nieghborhood Christmas Party

Jon and Jan Huckins — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:08:00 +0000

Hey friends,

Here is a post a just wrote on my personal blog about the dynamic ways God's Story is unfolding in our neighborhood as was experienced at our NieuCommunities' Christmas party a few weeks ago.

Here is the link: Sitting at the Unlikely Kingdom Banquet

Happy New Year! jon, jan and ruby

Jesus’ Birthday

Rice Field — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 17:37:54 +0000

After comforting Anika at 3am this morning and laying her back in her bed, I began to imagine the day that Jesus was born…. I wonder who was really there….. The Shepherds, the animals, maybe even the inn keeper but surely others were intrigued and had been invited to come along and check it out. What about the Shepherds’ friends or the inn keeper’s family?

I’d imagine there were others who came to say happy birthday to Jesus without knowing that he was their God.

We just hosted a Christmas Eve service in our home for NeiuCommunities, our families and our neighbors. It was an eclectic group of people all coming to honor Jesus on his Birthday. Some of us were devoted believers and followers of who Jesus is and what he does. Others were respecters of Jesus but not necessarily followers. Then there were those of us who are compelled by Jesus and are wrestling with who Jesus really was and is and are longing for more of him in our lives. Wherever we are in our spiritual journey, we all came together because of Jesus.

We came to see Jesus, we came to celebrate him, and we came to be together because him. I think that’s what Jesus wants. He came to us…..he keeps coming to us…. and he invites us to come to him.

NieuCommunities in West Bank?, South Africa Townships & all of life Jesus’ Apprenticeship

Jon and Jan Huckins — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:14:00 +0000

Here is our latest family/ministry update!

Merry Christmas! jon, jan and ruby

first steps in spain

Rob Yackley — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 01:56:00 +0000

There are a number of countries around the world that are often called "missionary graveyards" because--after decades of effort--there is so little to show for all the investment. Spain is one of those countries.

One of the reasons a place like Spain experiences such resistance is because the gap between the church and the culture is so perilously wide. They don't speak to each other or even speak each other's language. And when the gap is that great, the church must be willing to radically recreate itself in the image of Jesus and take Him to the streets or languish in her buildings.

In November I spent a week with a group of young leaders in Spain who are determined to be a redemptive presence in the southern port city of Malaga regardless of the personal cost. They've embedded themselves in schools and universities and moved into the heart of the city to be Jesus with skin on. I teamed up with two long-time colleagues--Deric Moen and Randy Gonzales--to take these young leaders through our Life Compass training to help focus their efforts and encourage their hearts. Here are just a few of the personal visions that were birthed or refined during our time together; visions which I believe will bring deep and durable transformation to Spain:

I will use my gifts of filmmaking to reveal the beauty and truth of God so the blind might see and the weary will experience the love of the Savior.
I will create a sports center where young athletes will be developed emotionally and spiritually as they are taught to follow Jesus.
I will help people discover the unseen exit door in order to be free and to help others experience more fully God’s total salvation: economically, socially, physically, and spiritually.

Helping people see what God sees for them is an essential first step. Creating a mentoring community that would equip them to live into their visions is an intriguing next step, and one we're excited to pursue.

Thin Places

Christiana — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 16:07:31 +0000

28th Street Park

This past Saturday I ran into some of my friends from the park as I walked through the Farmer’s Market in our neighborhood. One of the friends was Matt, my team mate with NieuCommunties, walking through with his two young boys. Matt and another park friend and I decided to browse the market for a bit longer and make our way to the 28th st Park.

I had a few great conversations at the park while my girls played in the sand and climbed trees. There was one conversation, however, that stood out above the rest.

Matt and I started talking with Joe who was there with is 21mo old son, Jon. The conversation quickly led to asking each other what we do for work. Joe told us that he works for an engineering company. We proceeded to explain NieuCommunities and that we’re both a part of an intentional community that studies and follows the life and teachings of Jesus and that we help to run an apprenticeship that forms leaders in the way of Jesus.

Joe seemed interested and asked, “So are you guys a form of ‘church’?”….. his question led us deep quick.

We found out that Joe grew up in a Christian home, was a youth pastor at one point but for the past 6 years has stopped believing and walked away from God. His wife is still “faithful and devout,” as Joe described her, and goes to church every week. He joins her fairly regularly but does not consider himself a Christian. Apparently his journey away from God started as he dug into scripture and found countless discrepancies between what the bible says and his own Christian experience. So he asked God to give him a supernatural experience of himself.

He’s still waiting

Just before we stared talking with Joe, our neighborhood friend Darren and his boys met us at the park as well. Darren is Jewish by heritage and has begun to follow the ways of Jesus as he’s walked closely with our community or the past two years. At one point, Matt, myself, Joe and Darren were all talking about Jesus and faith and the longings of our soul. It was beautiful.

As I stared gathering my stuff to leave, the thought entered my mind, “This is a Thin Place moment.” Thin Place is a term developed by Celtic Christians to describe an experience or a moment when the space between heavenly realities and the realities on earth is very thin. When life as God intended it to be is experienced here on earth.

I turned and saw Matt giving Joe his number, letting him know that he’d love to meet up for coffee to keep talking. I looked around and began to remember the countless spiritual conversations I’ve had at this park. Its remarkable. In fact, I think the space between heaven and earth is thinner at that park than most any other public place I frequent.

I began to pray that Joe would experience a touch of heaven in this moment.

As I walked away, pushing my little munchkins in the stroller, Joe’s wife pulled up. I knew it was her because Joe’s son, Jon ran up to give her a hug. As we passed, I introduced myself as a follower of Jesus, told her briefly about our conversation with Joe and that we’d be praying for her. Her eyes filled with tears and she thanked me.

I’m praying for eyes to see more Thin Places around me as I follow Jesus in my neighborhood.

Mentoring Teenagers Through Shared Life

Jon and Jan Huckins — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:17:00 +0000

While I worked at the Golden Hill Farmer's Market this morning (which has become an incredible context for building new and deeper relationships), Janny hosted a house of teenage girls for brunch. Along with 4 other women from NieuCommunities, Janny has committed to mentoring local teenage girls through a program called Uplift in our neighborhood. Most of the teenagers are low income, come from broken homes and some live in local homeless shelters.

It has been an amazing experience to hear stories of these teenagers being invited into the lives of women who deeply care about them and whose examples are introducing these girls to Jesus for the first time.

I'm so proud of Janny, her huge heart and her endless pursuit of loving those who otherwise wouldn't get to experience it.

These relationships not only reflect central values to our NC apprenticeship, but continue to remind us that God's Kingdom is being made real all around us...and often in the places and lives of the most unexpected.

a new day is blooming

Rob Yackley — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 01:43:00 +0000

This past weekend our community had a sacred envisioning retreat down in Mexico. God graciously shielded and guided us through an exciting but also emotional time for our community. As with the human experience of giving birth, the birthing of a new community is filled with both joy and pain. Seeing a new life emerge is amazing, but there’s also the sobering reality that life will never be the same once it happens. That’s especially true when you’ve really loved your life the way it is and you’re about to birth not just 1, but 2, or in our case, maybe 3 or 4 new communities.  

Over the weekend we fought hard to lean into our future, to release one another to God, but also to tend to the hearts and relationships that God has lovingly knit together. We sensed we would need to be willing to transition from being a singular, self-contained community to becoming multiple communities that are uniquely different but somehow connected and mutually complementing, but we just weren’t sure what that should look like. But here's a picture of what I sense God is doing:

Imagine a sunflower. At the center of the flower is a dark orangish brown eye, and around that center are lots of beautiful yellow pedals. Each part of the flower has its own unique look, texture, and function, but it's only whole when each part is connected. That’s a great picture of what God is forming here in San Diego and perhaps how our communities will grow around the world. From what was once just a one-size-fits-all center, (our intensive apprenticeship), we are about to birth several missional communities all around us. Like pedals on a sunflower they will be more pourus and accessible to our neighbors and extend our reach into the city and even beyond it. Whereas the apprenticeship focuses on forming people for missional life, these missional communities will be focused more on living out that life in the neighborhoods they inhabit. And like the sunflower, the apprenticeship and the multiple missional communities that radiate out from it will remain intimately connected to one another and deeply rooted in the missio dei—the mission of God, which we are honored to participate in.

Quick Prayer Request: Envisioning Retreat

Jon and Jan Huckins — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:25:00 +0000

We are headed out the door on the way to Mexico for a NieuCommunities weekend Envisioning Retreat and felt especially compelled to seek your prayer support during this time.

NieuCommunities is at a very exciting place in our corporate ministry internationally and specifically in our site here in San Diego. We currently have seen much fruit and life transformation come as a result of our role in creating a place (through our intensive 1-2 year Apprenticeship) for young leaders to navigate/discern their calling and Kingdom contributions. A few things have come up (all good things!) at this stage in NC San Diego:

1. There are a significant number of young leaders who have completed our NC apprenticeship that feel called to start or partner in starting other ministries similar to what we are doing with NieuCommunities (Spiritual Formation and Missional Life).

2. We are having to frequently turn people down who would like to move to San Diego and go through our Apprentice/Formation process because we are currently at our maximum capacity. This is also true of our other sites in Vancouver and South Africa.

3. Our NieuCommunities founder and SD Site Directors, Rob and Lauri Yackley, are taking a 6 month sabbatical starting in January after 27 years as missionaries. This will create a need for restructuring some of our leadership dynamics.

All that being said, we leave for our retreat this weekend with hope, excitement and a divine curiosity at what God might have in store for our SD community and global ministry. We need the Spirit's presence to rest upon us this weekend as we fervently listen and seek discernment in the road ahead.

Although NC hosts an apprenticeship process, we all understand our primary vocation as being apprentices of Jesus. An apprentice is one that not only knows the ways of their teacher, but one who faithfully steps into those ways. May we step faithfully into the ways our Teacher has in store for our future.

Thanks in advance for your prayers!

Love, jon, jan and ruby