A year and a half ago, Olympia had 200 people in attendance. Today they have over 400, with 16 Community Groups, and likely 20 by early next year. In that time, they've become the official home of the Military Mission, installed over 15 deacons, sent five men to ReTrain, through which Pastor Steven finished up a masters in missional leadership. But those are just the numbers. Here's just a small sampling of a few posts Pastor Steven – the campus' only full-time paid staff – put together over the year. The Military Mission, besides giving away thousands of books and teaching materials, is also taking your old hard drives and loading them up with up to 60 GB of preaching, sermons, music, and other media and sending them to deployed soldiers. Earlier this spring, in one of the many music posts, Pastor Steven reviewed a Xiu Xiu concert:

He opened the set with a song called "Black Drum Machine." It was a sparse song, the lead singer playing individual notes on his guitar, letting each fade into silence, each moment of silence pierced by his quavering voice, each line of the song telling the story of a neighbor girl who was raped by her brother, father, and the narrators father. He remarks how "she was always so forgiving" and at one point breaks down seemingly on the verge of tears and simply repeats "I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry" in a whispered broken voice. The most gut wrenching moment of the song for me was towards the end when he screamed the line "There must be some things for which God cannot be accused" It was a powerful moment for everyone in the room. For the duration of the four minute long song all chatter and side talk ceased the crowd was in complete silence.

He also wrote about six things he learned after his monthly time of silence, solitude, and the proverbial bucket refilling:

• You have to spend time in an area to be missional. I spent 6 hours in Lakewood and I only scratched the surface on what it would take to reach that area for Jesus.
• It may seem counter-intuitive but God has made us to work and rest; he has made us finite so that we come back to him to get our cup refilled.
• Be a continual learner, reading [Pastor] Dave Kraft's book was really beneficial, reminding me that I need to read outside of the people who I agree with.

He also has been writing regular, weekly Evidences of God's Grace posts. Simply put, there's been a lot of generous grace. Next up: Federal Way.