“As you come to Him, the living Stone – rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to Him – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” ‐ I Peter 2:4‐5
     Church planting, church growth and church health are all about life. When the body of Christ abides in Christ, the living One, in a healthy way the wonder and amazement of life is the natural result. The reason for this is because whatever we are doing is no longer about what we are doing, but rather about what the Lord is doing through us (Acts 15:12). This is why our sacrifices are acceptable to God. Of course, there is a huge problem with this simple and beautiful truth – we have to lose our life and die to ourselves to truly experience the kind of life that is real life in Christ (Matt. 10:38‐39; 16:24‐26; Luke 9:23‐25). The more we study and reflect on these thoughts at Imagine (and we study and reflect on them a lot) and try to put them into practice the more we are coming up against the reality of how simple this is (Matt. 11:29‐30) and extremely difficult at the same time (Phil. 2:12‐13).
     Therefore, I submit this progress report as a testimony not of what we have been doing or are planning to do, but what God in His grace and power is up to in our midst at Imagine. And I offer them with the humble understanding that whatever God wants Imagine to be we are just beginning to experience that, because we still have a lot of dying to do to experience the fullness of life Christ is calling us to.
     This past year we have seen two missional communities (MC’s) emerge, one called “Sprout” (building relationships and helping people through a community garden) and another called “Imagine…Growing Together!” (an intergenerational group that is connecting people of all ages to learn from and help one another wherever they are on the journey of following Christ). If you were to ask people from both of these MC’s to reflect back over these past months regarding what they have been involved in, after a minute or so of naming off various activities and projects, they would get a look of amazement on their faces and express being as surprised as you are at what they’ve been a part of. I know because I’ve done this and watched this response several times. And it is amazing, For example:

• Raising and giving away hundreds of pounds of fresh produce as well as providing a bi‐weekly BBQ that fed and connected well over 100 very diverse people.
• Having one of the largest groups and raising one of the largest sums of money for Family Promise as participants in their Cardboard Box City .
• Adopting a family who recently graduated from the Family Promise program surprising them with much needed (and
appreciated) food, clothing, gifts and gift certificates.
• Helping with the phone‐a‐thon for volunteers and then having a bunch of great workers show up over four different days at “the build” for the new Dinosaur Park in Bozeman.
• Over a period of a month helping Headstart in Belgrade put in a new playground.
• Participating in the Festival of Lights in Belgrade with a “mobile caroling trailer” that included a warming fire and refreshments
that many people enjoyed and took advantage of.
• Provided the same plus hot chocolate, hot dogs and sm’ores at the Manhattan Christmas Stroll on a sub‐zero night.
• Helped move the American Red Cross office in Bozeman to their new location as well as building them some much needed new locking cabinets.
• Participating on the organizational committee for a major fundraising benefit in Belgrade for the high school student
who was paralyzed in a wrestling accident and then coordinating the Kid’s Carnival which included about 20 games
and the recruiting of over 40 volunteers (who all did a fantastic job).

     This doesn’t even include the “fun stuff” we’ve done like floating the Madison River, a great day sledding, a Super Bowl party, etc., or the help we’ve been able to give to individual folks both “participating” in and just “observing” Imagine.  We’ve also begun a Huddle (that is presently meeting every other Thursday evening) which is designed to provide teaching and accountability for those involved to learn and live out some basic Biblical principles to become more like Jesus, with the intention that in six months to a year those participating can start their own Huddle putting into practice II Timothy 2:2. The Life Shapes found in Mike Breen and Steve Cochram’s book Kairos: Building a Discipling Culture are what we’ve been using during this time.  The intergenerational MC has been meeting regularly in one of the large rooms at Parties R Us. They also did a special Christmas service and skating night at the Beall House in Beall Park for their family and friends. Both MC’s meet to reflect and discuss how things are going, what we can and probably should do different and to plan for what’s next.
     With regard to the future, I’d say we are looking ahead with a sense of excitement and enthusiasm based on what we’ve seen God do and doing in people’s lives (including our own) tempered by the growing reality that we have so much to learn. The fact is, you don’t know what you don’t know until you trust Jesus and step out to do something new in obedience to His leading. Then you discover how sufficient His grace is and how His power is made perfect in your weakness (which is actually when the work we do gets fun and exciting, because at that point it’s no longer you doing it, but Christ working through and in you).
     With that truth in mind, Sprout is already making plans and preparing for this year’s new and improved community garden. Contacts and conversations will be happening in the coming weeks in which our hope, prayer, and expectation is that some of those who came and observed (and asked a lot of questions about why we were doing this) last year will want to participate with us this year, so that Sprout can grow as a faith community and move closer to what Hugh Halter calls “congregation”. (Hugh was in the area here the last week in February and talked to a group of us for a couple hours on what missional and incarnational ministry is about.)
     Imagine…Growing Together! is moving toward establishing a rhythm that seeks to balance UP, IN, and OUT by joining with another new church, Peregrinatio every other week (you can check out their website at peregrinatio.net) . Peregrinatio has a beautifully simple, Christ‐centered worship service that draws you into the presence of God. They are also feeling the Holy Spirit’s leading to become more missional. We’ve known for some time that we have a lot in common with these folks and that we not only share a very similar vision and set of values, but a “crazy” kind faith that sees stepping out of our comfort zone and trusting God as normal and not something we have to fight about. Whether or not this is going to work and if it does what it will look like in the future no one from either group knows. But, we’re all open to what the Lord is doing and are looking forward to what the future holds whatever it is.
     Imagine…Growing Together! is also in the process of becoming an official partner with Family Promise, a wonderful organization that helps and works with the homeless in our area (and they have a growing waiting list of those in need). There were 14 people who went through the training to become volunteers and we’re hoping to get a few more to go through the training as well (there are many different ways to contribute as a volunteer). We are going to be teaming up with Journey and 1st Baptist Church, using the 1st Baptist Church facility in downtown Bozeman. The plan is to be hosting our first guests in about a month and then be on the regular schedule after that. This is a big step and a little scary, but it’s exciting to be able to do it.
     Finally, with regard to the future, we are planning to start a third missional community. Because of the growing interest in the contacts the Lord has given to us, and in light of what we’ve learned these past months, we see the need for and how the Lord is opening the door for another MC. We need to work out the details and what this one will look like, but our plan is to see it begin to happen in the next several weeks.  All of this is coming out of our desire to live out our vision of being Gospel neighbors and Gospel messengers living Gospel centered lives that seek first the Kingdom of God.
     To that end, I am also involved in a subcommittee for the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council called Empowering Reentry and Reducing Recidivism, chairing the working group Out of Area Best Practices and Community Resources and serving on another, Mission and Goals. The working group I chair is arranging to bring some people who’ve started a reentry program in Billings, MT and then the director of the Rapid City Reentry Initiative and the chief of police from Rapid City, SD, to speak to key law enforcement personnel, judges, and leaders of service organizations from our county in April and May, respectively. This has been and continues to be a great opportunity to meet new people, build some close relationships, and serve our community as a member of the body of Christ.
     In order to make ends meet financially (especially, looking ahead six months to a year or two) I’ve begun selling real estate again (I had a real estate license in Maryland for four years while we were church planting there). Since Shirley has been working for Keller Williams MT Realty for the past four years, we are now a real estate team (which actually has some great advantages for us and is a benefit to our clients). It’s been a joy working with people again in this way. We are currently helping a youth pastor and wife find a home that will meet their needs (we wrote up a buy/sell agreement but are still waiting to hear from the seller) and I just wrote up my first listing agreement and am going to present another Comparative Market Analysis this week. From experience I know it takes time to build a real estate business (if you have a good plan, faithfully work it and are blessed by the Lord), but I feel like we’re off to a good start. So, if you know anyone who is interested in buying or selling real estate, please let me know!
     In closing, I’d like to express my thanks to all of you who have been supporting us with your prayers and finances. You are centrally important to all that we’ve been able to do and will do in the future. We have a tremendous prayer team that we send out updates to periodically and if you’re not on that but would like to be, please let me know!
     May the Lord of glory bless you in all you are doing to spread His Gospel and advance His Kingdom.
     In the matchless name of Jesus,
     Randy Van Osdol