The Intersect

After my second year of college at University of the Pacific (fourth year of college, total), I moved in with a few guys who lived in a house then known as The Alpine House. The following year, we attempted to make the house into a place people could come in and feel comfortable while pushing ourselves to build relationships and serve God in various ways. I lived there for one year and some change until, last October, all of the guys in the Alpine House decided to move to a bigger house, closer to campus, in order to expand the scope of our ministry and create a place where we could even better encounter God through each other and our guests. When we moved, we made a decision to be more active in our persuit of ministry as a house, and to make our dwelling space a place where anybody could come and encounter Christ and His followers. Realizing our personal limitations, we especially wanted people to be able to interact with people that could build them up, either among the residents or among other visitors. In light of this vision, we called the new house The Intersect--a place where discreet comunities can "intersect" each other to build each other up and foster spiritual growth.

To allow people to feel comfortable in our house, we have moved all residents' space upstairs (One and a half bedrooms, a small living room, and the master bathroom),and opened the entire downstairs (living room, dining room, kitchen, two bathrooms, three bedrooms) into open community space. One downstairs bedroom serves as the office/study area, another is a music room (several residents are or were Music majors of one sort or another), and the last is an entertainment room (XBox and Playstation, projected movies, fun).

The vision has been caught by many people since The Intersect's founding and the community has grown with two brand new residents and lots of individuals from our church (The Lighthouse), University of the Pacific, and around Stockton.

Our house has been able to serve as the regular meetingplace for the Lighthouse's college Bible study and InterVarsity's Pacific Christian Fellowship's (PCF) large group music team. We also hosted numerous one-time events such as PCF's 30-Hour Famine and several after-large group activities. But the majority of our ministry takes place in unstructured times where people simply come over to hang out and chat, play games, or eat.

I really enjoyed being a part of this community and seeing how God can thrive in groups of followers and came to see new and different kind of Body of Christ--one that is loving of all people and able to extend the love that Christ gives to those around us.

The manifest for December, 2008 is:

Rob Hansen

Kaben Kramer

Kenny Rock

Randy Sandoli

Mark Shaver

Mike Smith

Alex Urbano

Nathan Yee

Each resident brings unique and vibrant personalities and, together, we are able to minister to whomever comes through our open door (we never lock up). I see how God is blessing this community and wants it to thrive, grow, and operate as a part of the Kingdom.

Though I am leaving, at least for 5 months, I look forward to hearing about what God continues to do here, and hope to be involved in similar communities elsewhere. I believe this is a realization of the reality that the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed: small and humble, but persistant and robust.