South of the Border

Buenos tardes,

I spent this past weekend down in Mexico with the Eben Ezer project. My buddies from Kairos & Hope International Church, Dustin & Rob, and I traveled 7 hours south to a little town in the Mexican desert called San Jacinto. We spent a couple days working on an earth dome house that is currently being built for the director of an elderly home and his wife.

In an area with VERY little natural resources available, Jose Luis and his wife Anjela are currently living in a small trailer and this home will provide them with running water and even a loft. The temperature will be naturally regulated as the materials used to build the dome are nothing more than dirt, sand, and water. The structure will exist much like a cave, with very small temperature variances; in the midst of the hot Mexican desert.

Relative to housing costs either in either the United States or Mexico, this dome will be incredibly inexpensive to construct and maintain! This project is especially neat for the ministry of Kairos out here because we take bi-weekly trips down to work on the dome and several students from UCLA are very excited to be a part of the work we're doing.

Volunteers drive down usually on Friday morning, set up tents on the property and work from sun-up till sun-down all weekend. Below are some pictures from my trip as well as some from other trips. Please be in prayer for our teams as they continually go south to serve. Thanks!

Conner


Shortly after arriving; the dome is under the blue tarps.


The creator of the project; Dustin, standing on top of the unfinished dome.


The cement mixer in the background is what produces those lovely white walls.


The mounds of dirt are sifted, then mixed with sand and water to make concrete.


Rob & I taking a break at the ocean by a shipwreck.

Some Explanations & Clarifications

Hey Everyone!

I want to take a few moments in this post to clarify a few things for all my friends and family that are following my journey out here in Los Angeles. I imagine there could be some confusion about what exactly I am actually doing out here; I admit, it can sometimes be confusing to me as well. :)

As I have tried to lay out in my previous posts, I felt God's calling on my life to come out here to Los Angeles several months ago. After seeing confirmation of that feeling through wise counsel, prayer, and reading His Word, I drove out here to Los Angeles at the end of August. I have now been out here for about a month and a half. It has been a whirlwind time.

I came out to Los Angeles to be part of a church called Kairos. Kairos calls itself a network of neighborhood churches joining God in bringing more of heaven to earth. There is a location in Hollywood, Downtown/USC, and in West Los Angeles (Santa Monica.) I am working with a new canvas group (community group) of the West Los Angeles congregation in the Westwood:UCLA area. The hope is that it will eventually become it's own congregation, but for now, we are partnering with Kairos West Los Angeles. Right now, we are simply cultivating a new community of God in the Westwood:UCLA area. That is taking on many forms.

One of those forms is a community dinner we do for any students that want to come by on Wednesday nights at one of our leaders apartments on campus. This has been an amazing time as we have seen more students come over every week. We have dinner, hang out and talk about whatever; in short, we're building relationships that God will infect with his Grace. :) My co-leaders in the Westwood:UCLA Canvas group and I are also spending concentrated time on campus every week in prayer. We are meeting with students, professors, and staff that are looking to partner with what God is doing at UCLA. Those have been great interactions and times of relationship-building. A lot is happening!

We also have set up a recurring mission trip opportunity for students and people from the Westwood community. In fact, some of us are heading down to Mexico tomorrow to help build a sustainable structure for an orphanage. My co-leader at Kairos; Dustin, has set up an engineering non-profit called Eben Ezer. That is the context with which we are headed south this weekend. I'm so excited.

So that's what I'm doing ministry-wise, let me briefly lay out for you all what I have been doing for work out here. I want to begin by explaining what the next several months will look like for me. I have decided that to help me do ministry out here, that I will be support-raising in addition to finding a part-time job in the community. In order to do that, I will be coming back to Chicago in March-June of 2010 to intensely raise support. I am waiting until then so that I can acclimate myself to the culture out here, and actually have some stories of ministry to tell people when I get home. After I am done support-raising in Chicago, I will head back here for the next few years.

Until I leave in March of next year, I do obviously, have to make money for everyday living expenses. Unfortunately, no one will hire someone in a consistant part-time position who is going to be quitting in just a few short months. Enter the idea to do background acting. Being that this is Los Angeles, the entertainment capital of the world, I have the ability to do Extra work in the short term until I leave in March. Background acting is unique in that you call in and book yourself each day, and it is up to you whether or not you work on any given day. So when I stop calling in to book jobs in March...no one in the entertainment industry will care.

When I return in July 2010, I can look for an actual part-time job in the Westwood area for the long term. No more background work for Conner.

So in summary, I came out here to help be a part of what God is doing through Kairos in Los Angeles. I am still absolutely committed to that. I am doing background acting at this point to "pay the bills." I will be dropping that next March when I come home to Chicago to support-raise. Then, when I come back to Los Angeles I will be finding a part-time job in the Westwood:UCLA area and will be able to focus completely on ministry with Kairos. I hope this helps clear up any confusion anyone might have. If you have any questions further for me, or would just like to talk, please don't hesistate to give me a call or e-mail me.

Thank you to everyone for praying for me, asking questions, and just generally being concerned about my life out here. I am so glad you all care so much. Have a blessed day.

Conner

Cell - 847.204.8994
E-mail - cjsimms@gmail.com

Welcome Back Bruins

This week kicks off the Fall Quarter at the University of California-Los Angeles.

All 40,00 students are back on campus, enjoying Diddy Riese (local & one-of-a-kind ice-cream shop) catching movies at the Bruin theater (local cineplex) and generally doing everything possible to avoid the homework that is undoubtedly piling on already.

My co-leader Dustin James (I want to have two first names!) and I helped people move in this past week. It's amazing how some people can be so surprised that someone would want to help them move in! It's also somewhat humorous that some people would rather drag two heavy boxes the length of the apartment complex (in a skirt) than accept help from two handsome young gentlemen...but I digress...

This past week, Dustin, Jeremiah (our other co-leader) and I spent time on campus praying for the students, the staff, other christian groups, the neighborhood of Westwood, and of course, Karios-UCLA. It was a beautiful time spent with God and each other. If we believe God is blessing this new work in Westwood, we must always begin with prayer.

This past Wednesday evening we had our first informal get together for Kairos-UCLA. Simple and sweet best describe it. We had dinner and hung out at Dustin & Jeremiah's apartment on campus. The girl we helped move in even hung out! These kinds of informal hang out times are the first piece of the puzzle for cultivating a community of faith at UCLA.

In an effort to find more pieces for the puzzle, Dustin, Jeremiah, JR (leader of all the Kairos') and I got together earlier today (Sunday) to discuss vision, plans, and surfing. It was a wonderful time of brainstorming and fellowship. I'll let you know more about some of the things we believe God is leading Kairos:UCLA towards in my next post.

Until then, I hope this post finds you well and remembering God's grace in your life.

Peace.

Some Recent & Intersecting Thoughts

I took a walk in Los Angeles a couple days ago. That's a lot like saying I took a walk in North America a couple days ago, it doesn't tell you much about location. Location is something I've been thinking about a lot lately...

The location I happened upon during that walk was a thoroughly-traveled bit of road that, on this particular morning, was closed off to cars and had been re-created as the finishing area for a 5k race.

When I happened upon it, the race was long-since over and various crews were tearing down tents and the like. They were converting the space, pruning back the tented weeds to reveal the area's true purpose, to facilitate travel for Angelinos. I've been thinking a lot about pruning lately as well...

So much in my life over the past few months has centered around ideas of location (changing locations, importance of home, ministry location, etc...) and pruning (relationships, God's growth, identity as a pastor, etc...)

1st Corinthians 10:13 says, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

This verse is often quoted in high school purity small groups consisting of hormonal boys. Without a doubt, an application of this verse is sexual purity, but it is so much more expansive than that. God is is telling us that we will not be tempted beyond what we can bear in anything..."no temptation." We will never find ourselves in situations where there is no hope to cling to, or where the tempation to give up on God and his purposes for our lives will ever be validated. We will never find ourselves in situations where there are no ways out. We will not find ourselves anywhere (location) where God is not there to strengthen and uphold us.

This is an idea, or understanding, that has seen some accelerated progression in my life recently. I think that it found a boost when it began intersecting with ideas of pruning. God has been taking dynamite to some old ideas for me lately, he has been cutting away things to reveal more and more who he wants me to be. I haven't experienced revelation and discernment like this since my time as a hosptial chaplain last fall. :)

The intersection where pruning and location met has been my move here to Los Angeles, and everything that has been a part of that move over the last several months. More on that in a later post though, I need some more distance from the transition to speak clearly...

You know, I have never really enjoyed being outside. I'm much more of an indoor guy.

That seems to be changing now that I find myself in Southern California.

Now that I find myself in a garden...being pruned.

A lot to Cover

Howdy,

Well, it's been some time since I last posted. Please forgive me everybody, it has been a wild last couple months preparing for the move out to Los Angeles.

Well...I'm here! I made it! I've been here in the Southland for a few weeks and life has been crazy. I got my new California license the other day, that really drove home for me the fact that I am out here doing ministry in California.

What is that ministry you might ask? Well, I have decided to partner with a group of churches out here called Kairos. Click on the link to the left to check out what they do. Basically, Kairos is a collection of three churches in the LA area (Hollywood, Downtown, & Santa Monica) that seek to be neighborhood churches affecting their immediate local community; however that looks.

I have partnered with Kairos to help launch their fourth local community in Westwood, Los Angeles; the neighborhood where UCLA is located. We are going to be working closely with UCLA and its students, as well as the great community of Westwood. If you would like some more info about my new home, check it out here.

I have a few prayer requests for anyone reading this.

• Strength during this transitional time.
• Finding a part-time job & a place to live in Westwood.
• Finding Ministry partners to equip me financially for ministry out here.

Stay tuned for a much more consistant updating of my journey...

Check out some pictures of my time out here so far.

A picure of me at the legendary UCLA Basketball Arena.

Some ministry partners and I having dinner in Santa Monica, looking suave.

Surprised by the beauty of the beach...and the camera. :)

Heading out West

Hi everyone,

I wanted to use this first post to give you some basic information about my impending journey out to Los Angeles.

• I will be leaving around the 16th/17th of August; driving out with my books, bike, and clothes (along with other misc. trinkets.)

• Currently, what I will be doing in LA is not set in stone. There are a few different ministry opportunities out there and I'm chatting with God about which direction to head in. When I know, you'll know!

• I will be doing a little support raising for my first year in the Southland. If you are interested in helping me out...let me know. That would be neat.

• If you could, please be in prayer for me about this whole adventure. You could pray about ministry leadings, logistical things, emotional, spiritual, & financial support, earthquakes...anything really!

FUN FACT:

The Chicagoland area (roughly 11,000 sq. miles,) comprised of parts of Wisconsin, Illinois, & Indiana currently has about 9.5 million residents.

The Los Angeles Metropolitan Area (roughly 5,000 sq. miles) is home to about 18 million residents.