When I last left you at the Hilton on Movement Day, the opening session had just began and Ajith Fernando was speaking in front of the thousand plus attendees in the Grande Ballroom. But I hadn’t finished my morning volunteer duties, so I can’t say that I heard much of what he said. As I made my way back to the registration desk, a big guy, sporting a serious bottom goat is speaking with my supervisor. I guess my next person is up. I wait on the side until she finishes reviewing his schedule.

“So, where ya from Rick?” I can’t deny the fact that I’m a little curious as to how this guy got on the VIP list. He looks a little shady.

“Portland.” Well that explains it. Kidding. 🙂

“Cool. Have you been in the city long? Had a chance to do anything fun yet?”

“Nope. But my wife is out with some friends of ours having a great time while I’m here.”

This one’s a bit of a wise guy. I read his name tag: Rick McKinley, Pastor of Imago Dei. “You seem kinda young to be a Pastor?” Don’t know why I said this! Maybe it was the conversation about age with Tim Keller. 

“Yup. But I also started the church. Twelve years ago.”

“Very cool.” We’re about to enter the green room, so I warn him. “It’s not green.” Then tell him a little about myself and my writing dream. We have a nice chat and he tells me to shoot him a copy of my book when it comes out. As I leave Rick to powder his nose, I think to myself, I hope I get to hear him speak. Something tells me he’ll make me laugh.

And sure enough, the first break I get, Rick is interviewing Luis and Kevin Palau on stage and the first words out of his mouth are, “We’re from Portland. Where they’ve made biking naked a serious sport.” Or something like that. He’s very funny. But in the middle of his west coast swag, he gets serious about faith.

Somewhere in the midst of jokes, I discover a man who is approaching his faith journey in a refreshing way, striving to live out his leadership through meaningful relationships. And he has a lot of fun up there on stage with the Palau father-son team. They’re all so different from each other, and all I can think is, this is so cool. How people should be. Sharing ideas and encouraging each other, regardless of their differences. Because, there’s something about hearts that reflect each other better than any mirror that inspires me.

I was in a room full of people looking for a clearer picture—of how to use their gifts, their callings, and their dreams to change their cities. But I have to pick and choose who I will connect with. My first choice is Rick Mckinley.

So I become a mini stalker and find out when the next time he’ll be speaking. Unfortunately, by the time I finish up a few more volunteer things, I miss most of his spiel during the interactive portion of the day on “City Movements.” I do hear the tail end of it.

His closing remarks in the breakout session run something like this: “Give it all away. To love radically, you have to give it all away. And when you give it all away, you have nothing to lose.”

Before I have time to ponder exactly what he’s talking about, the emcee invites everyone to turn to the people sitting at their tables and have a little small group discussion on everything Rick just said.

Well, I didn’t exactly hear much of what he said. And I had no interest in hearing everyone’s opinion. But I was nice. I sat uncomfortably for a minute or two and answered those questions that have the potential to start new friendships, you know the ones, “What’s your name? Where are you from?”

I felt a tinge of guilt, but I had this sudden urge to pull a Soulfest. Why not ask if I can get an interview for my blog? What’s the worse case scenario? Rick says no, and I’ll say, “No worries.” So I quickly scrawl a bunch of questions, all the while ignoring the round table discussion, and without any sort of formal farewell, I leave my group and casually approach Rick.

“So I’m not stalking you.” Now my nose is growing to match my puffy lips.

“Yes, Raj, what can I do for you?” That moment when you’re thankful to have a name that people usually remember.

“Well, I was thinking if you had a few minutes, maybe I could interview you for my blog?” 

“Oh, so we got a little blog action going on. Sure. I’m done here. We can chat for a few.” [Btw, Rick, if I paraphrase a little, forgive me, but I didn’t bring any recording device, I dropped Journalism 101, and I clearly did not write it all down! 🙂 I was much more interested in just listening to you.]

We walk out in the hallway and I ask my first question. “So, tell me your story.”

Rick: “My church’s story?”

Raj: “No. Your story. What’s your story?”

And he shares how he didn’t grow up in church, had a radical spiritual experience at the age of 18 when he walked into a California church, and soon after, left to study in Portland, Oregon. There, he felt lead to start something different in Portland. To birth a church that loved radically through investing in people and their real needs. A church to love the city of Portland. Starting with meaningful relationships and meeting people where they’re at. Similar to what Jesus did with the newlywed couple who he lavishly made a ton of wine for, out of water. “Can we start a church and love like that?” he asked himself when he and a group of 15 dreamers began meeting at his house, the seeds of the church that would one day become Imago Dei, a Portland church that drew 1400 folks by its fifth year. [Which, by the way, I only found out days later, through Google.]

Me: “So why Movement Day? What made you want to be involved?”

Rick: “They asked me.” Rick laughs. Then summarizes: “To come. To speak. So I came.”

Me: “Okay. Makes sense. So, what do you say to people who say, ‘Church is not for me…'”

Rick: “Everyone in Portland says that. So you lead out with Jesus, not church. Speak meaning into their lives. Love rather than judge.”

We talk a bit about what that means. How in Portland, a city where the needs are great with so many citizens who face tough struggles, it’s about loving people, because the truth is, you can’t have a meaningful conversation with someone if you don’t really care about them. Love opens doors. “Love starts the conversation.”

Me: “Very cool. Very cool. So just a fun question, and I’ll let you go. Do you have a favorite band?”

Rick: “Airborn toxic reunion and Of Monsters and Men…”

Me: “Okay. Never heard of either, but definitely plan to look them up. Any local Portland band you want to give a shout out to?”

Rick: “Sure. Menomena. They have a great sound!”

Me: “So what do you hope to see or do in the city before you leave?”

Rick: “My wife is out living it up. She’ll do all the sight-seeing stuff for me. We did have a nice dinner in Little Italy last night. We’ll just find some place to hang out tonight. Should be fun.”

Thanks for taking the time to chat with me Rick. And thanks for making me laugh. But most of all, thanks for bringing a radical and fresh take on loving people and serving your city!

Perused the first chapters of your book A Kingdom Called Desire. Very cool. Very cool indeed! You got me thinking. I like how you ask your reader, “What is it that you desire? What do you really want?”

Reminds me of what I love to ask a friend, a neighbor, or even a stranger: “What are you looking for?” Because we’re all searching for something. 

**So … What are you looking for? Have you ever tried biking without… socks on? Done anything fun in the city lately?