Tory Farina

Like the Coast Guard...

When E and I started High Point it was a long process involving many different stages and culminating in a Grand Opening to the public. We set a date. We prepared like crazy. We made a week by week month by month plan of how we were going to be ready to open the doors with success on January 29th 2006. We accomplished that vision.

As I was preparing for the church plant I was praying about my uncertainties involved in the plant... will I be able to pastor these people, will anyone show up, Am I spiritual enough, am I practical enough, will the theatre work, will there be enough money to personally make it, will there be enough money to professionally make it, can I preach that many times in a row?… I was praying and thinking and reading the word and I came across… Isaiah 54 there is so much to this chapter for me. It felt like God was saying… “I know you have never done this before but I will make you a success.” -cool!

This is the passage that I really got excited about.
    2 "Enlarge the place of your tent,
               stretch your tent curtains wide,
              do not hold back;
               lengthen your cords,
               strengthen your stakes.

     3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left;
               your descendants will dispossess nations
               and settle in their desolate cities.
Come On! Lets think big…

 I got excited because I knew that the local church is the hope of the world. That if we are growing and doing church in a way that truly helped people... FIND THEIR FAITH- DISCOVER THEIR FAITH- LIVE THEIR POTENTIAL… then we would be building strong believers in Christ. We would be going into this world and reaching those who do not know him. We would be seeing addicts set free, marriages restored, parents empowered, people given purpose. Sounds good doesn't it?

The vision I have in my head of high point is a massive one. Church plants, multiple campuses, multiple services, hundreds of connections groups throughout the twin cities and beyond, theaters filled, missionaries sent out, lives changed on a grand scale. Can I tell you something a little embarrassing? I thought that God would have already given me that vision. I know it is silly now but for a while I found myself ultimately dissatisfied by how “slow” our growth was. REALITY CHECK! We are not growing slow! We are growing steady and consistent. I had to come to a realization. That is my META God vision. It is my life long goal. Looking through the pages of scripture you see lots of people having META vision and few realizing them ultimately. Often they lay the ground work for the next person to come along and build on the foundation.

The moment I figured this out the moment I could grab the  binoculars and ask God what he had for me and High Point in the not so distant future. The MICRO vision. That gets pretty exciting. This vision is attainable! It is not that far away. It is what you and I and High Point will be around the corner.

The MICRO vision for High Point is about creating pathways to God in a more systematic way. It is about Organizing to make what we do simpler, more effective, and scalable. It is as if we spent the last 2.5 years putting in the footings that now we are going to build the pretty arches on so that some day down the line this bridge to my META vision can be built. The pastoral team and the leaders of the church are beginning to regroup, unite, and push forward with renewed focus and clarity as to where we are going.

Let me be clear about this next few stages. God has entrusted us with talents that are powerful and wonderful and he expects us to multiply them. So we at High Point are going to empower people. We are going to reach into this city and pull people aboard the boat and do what it takes organizationally to help them not jump back in the water. We are like the Coast guard… In order to be more effective at rescuing people we are going to have to train harder and get better at how and what we do. We are in the life saving business and the more resource we have the better tools We can get to reach people. The bigger boat we have the more workers are available to reach over the side and pull the drowning in.

My vision is sharp and I can see us being a powerful force in this community and making a big impact in the short term. Pray for this as we go into this world to seek and save that which is lost.

Pour Your heart into it!

Just picked up my copy of Pour Your heart into it...

I love the Prologue...

• Care more than others think wise.
• Risk more than others think safe.
• Dream more than others think practical.
• Expect more than others think possible.

My prayer- Lord you have given me a dream to fulfill your great commission in the twin cities. May you guide me and the team of High Point to reach our potential. Give us a clear next step as we plot our course for the future of High Point. May we see and judge with clarity. May we find that your Holy Spirit has been preparing the way. Help us reach more people who do not know you with your message and may we truly help people
FIND THEIR PLACE- DEVELOP THEIR FAITH- LIVE THEIR POTENTIAL! 

This is going to be a great year! Get ready!

The Half Mile Hill...

I was running today and on the 3.5 mile route I choose I had to make a decision. Do I run down the half mile hill? Which as you know is a lot easier and more fun. Or do I run up it at the end of my run?

I choose to run up it at the end but half way through I realized that that was not a fun idea. To make matters worse they had just put road gravel down so it was like running on the beach. I felt like David Hasselhoff. I wanted to quite. But turning around only meant I would have to go up the hill again when I was less tired. Stopping would have only given me a break for the moment and walking meant that I would be giving in to the pressure. I ran the whole way up. Slowly, but it was still defined as a run… I looked it up.

I think life is like this. We have half mile hills that we face all the time. If we are pursuing Gods will we will face Half mile hills all the time. I am talking about Noah this week. 120 years he spent building the ARK. That was a long time filled with a lot of stopping or quitting moments. He kept going. Why.

It says in the passage regarding Noah that he walked with God. When I am running with James “the machine” Zwiefel, he tells me that I am not tired yet. I argue with him between gasps of air but he usually wins and I keep running. By coach knows that I can do a lot more than I feel I am able.

The first time we ran 3 miles I was tricked into it. It was actually 3.8 and when we finished I realized that 3 was no big deal. So what in your life looks like a half mile hill? What feels as impossible as 3 miles did? God your coach wants to walk you through it. He wants to see you victorious on the other side.

One final thought: For every up hill there is always a down hill!

Maybe it is time...

I love the way Erwin McManus says it in his book Unstoppable Force: “The center of God’s will is not a safe place but the most dangerous place in the world.” Then he makes a great distinction: “To live outside of God’s will puts us in danger; to live in his will makes us dangerous.”

Maybe it is time… to do something that scares you to death but if you don't do no one else will.

I am tossing around starting a web page that would be a dialog of the future of the AG. Who will lead and who will step up to vote and make a difference? If we as a young generation showed and voted we could have fresh leadership overnight. What Power we have as young leaders. But will we show? (I say that and feel guilty because i am about to have a baby then and my wife is needing me to stay home and take care of her.) But others will be there and could if they wanted to make a difference. So pray with me about this.

If nothing else at least it would be a place to rally who knows what could come out of it? The ideas exchanged the people reached and encouraged because we collaborated. I am working on the details so any help you can give let me know.

What could be...

I am watching Mark Batterson's state of the church message for 06-07. There was a video they showed of there tear down the sign ceremony when they bought a nasty crack house. It took them years to get all of the money, approval, and energy to build an awesome Coffee House on the spot.

What will God give us a vision for? What is awaiting us? Will someone give us a building? will we buy the Cub on Robert? Will we see people come to a movie theatre we own? Will We be in every theatre in the cities? What could be? With God I am usually the Last to find out. But he is right now working behind the scenes on our behalf on my behalf and on your behalf to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we can imagine.

Dreams and Visions are the lords. I want to Build his house and bring as many as possible to heaven with us. For the Glory Of Jesus Name.

Either memory overtakes imagination or Imagination over takes memory

Either memory overtakes imagination or Imagination over takes memory!

Think about that for a moment... It is why churches after 30 years of one leader are dying. It is why businesses lose market share. It is the essence of age. I think that if you're imagination is overtaking your memory then you are young no matter how old you are. I think if your imagination is overtaking memory you will be a success and you will live by faith and take risks and live LARGE.

God may I be captivated by your imagination and never live in the memorials of my past.

Lets imagine a better future where we are holding on for dear life wondering what is at the end of the rapids we are on. I love that quote!

You “ will rebuild the ancient ruins

You “ will rebuild the ancient ruins

and restore the places long devastated;

You” will renew the ruined cities

that have been devastated for generations.” ^

Isaiah 64:4

I was ordained last week with the Assemblies of God. What an amazing experience. I have gone through all of there hoops to be considered one whom they put there approval on as a minister of the gospel. I by there standards am not a wacko. Whhooo! Glade to hear it!

That night as I was prayed for by one of my favorite people and hero of mine Dr. Gordon Anderson of North Central University God gently whispered words of affirmation in my ear. It was the only way to explain the moment when I felt his presence all over me and felt a confirming assurance that I was in the right place doing what I was called to do.

Then at the end of the service Pastor St. John read the above verse as a closing and something in me broke. I began to weep as I felt god was reaffirming the vision he gave me long ago of a church that would go into a city and redeem the city. I realized the potential of going into suburbs around the cities and around the world with a church in a movie theatre concept. One church multiply locations. Sure everyone is talking about this but I feel like we will actually do it.

Think of it… A church that could restore the places long devastated. A church that will grow when others haven’t a church that will stand as a beacon of hope and potential a place where we can see people come to Christ. I don’t know the time frame. We need to build this base in Inver Grove Heights. Someday, High Point or churches like it will be all over this city transforming the dead places into places of hope.

My current prayer is that I would grow enough as a leader in order to accommodate this much. But isn’t that like God? To call us into his service and then train us for the job he calls us. Who or what could we be? I don’t know… all I know is that this church is coming to a theatre/ business park/ school/ who knows what near you.