Guys We Like – Mike Rusch of the Cobblestone Project

 

 

By Greg Primm

Today we start the first in a series of posts about Guys We Like, profiles of men who are grabbing life by the horns and doing something great.  I’ve known Mike Rusch for almost 10 years and recently I learned about a non-profit organization that he and some friends have started called the Cobblestone Project.  My family and I have even volunteered a few times with Cobblestone-sponsored projects in our local area.  I had heard a little about Mike’s journey and how the organzation was formed, but I knew there was much more to the story.  So over lunch last week he and I sat down and talked about Cobblestone and the personal journey that led him there.   

Let’s start out by telling everyone a little bit about yourself. 

Married to my beautiful wife (Corrie) for 12 years now…amazing woman (and much better than me).  We have three children, John Michael (8 years old) who wants to be a rock star, Will (5) who wants to be the Crocodile Hunter, and Conley (3) who wants to be a “cupcake maker”.  And, we are actually in the process of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia (probably still 6 months out).  We’ve lived in NW Arkansas for 20+ years with a short stint in Southern California somewhere in the middle there. 

Tell us about the Cobblestone Project.  What is the purpose of Cobblestone?

The Cobblestone Project is really only an idea, but it’s the idea that hopefully serves as a launch platform as well as the umbrella that connects all the pieces together.  Our vision is fairly straightforward:  ”A Community Without Need”, and we do this through our Mission of:

1) Identifying Needs,

2) Connecting Needs with Willing Resources, and

3) Fulfilling Needs with Sustainable Solutions.

We hope to “connect-the-dots” between a need in our community and person willing to meet that need.  But we hope that along the way it’s not charity that we extend (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but that it’s a solution to a problem so that we can solve those needs.

What organizations benefit from the work of Cobblestone’s volunteers?

We’ve worked with many and are in different phases with each.  Seven Hills Homeless Center, Community Kids Closet, Benton County Women’s Shelter, Samaritan Community Center, Community Emergency Outreach, Lifesource, NW Arkansas Children’s Shelter, Children’s Advocacy Center, Restoration Village, Second Mile Ministries, Helping Hands, and a few others that escape me right now.  But it’s an on going conversation, if fact, just last night we started a conversation with the Senior Activity Center in Fayetteville about a  potential initiative idea.

How can people connect with Cobblestone and get involved?

Best way to get a quick overview is to visit our website (www.CobblestoneProject.org) to get a feel for some of our more established initiatives; however, if there is a specific idea or issue that you are interested in, please let us know.  At any given time, we have a ½ dozen new initiative ideas in the works or other activities taking place that are in need of help.  One other way is to bring us your idea and let’s sit down and put a plan together on how we can support you.  We don’t claim to have all the ideas and we need others to come and show us how to meet specific needs in new and exciting ways.

What can you tell us about the personal journey that led you toward Cobblestone?

My personal journey has been a long one, and honestly, I’m still on it.  I became a follower of Jesus many years ago  because I believe that the way of Jesus is the best possible way to live.  However, for many years, my story of trying to live this way was composed of:

Understanding I’m a sinner, separated from God,

Accepting personal salvation, and 

Waiting for Jesus’ kingdom to come again.

Unfortunately, over those years, my “waiting for the kingdom to return” became more about keeping a scorecard of my behavior, waiting to feel “clean” enough before I could approach God, and trying to ensure I didn’t miss my 15 minutes of reading the bible everyday so I could learn a new truth that I had overlooked.

Please understand me that these elements are all true and necessary for every person that wants to follow Jesus and makes that decision to do so.  It’s just for me, those “to-dos” became my spiritual life rather than them being a desire to understand my life here and now better.  In short, it still seemed liked I was supposed to be doing something more than pursing the “American Dream of having a bigger house, newer car, better title in my job, etc. because those things didn’t satisfy.  The early passion and desire of my young faith had escaped me, and now I was just going through the motions of a Christian life that was supposed to be abundant.

Last November, a group of close friends and family who had been processing this together, said that we had finally had enough.  We were going to do something and continuing doing it until we either finished it or God told us move on.  Well, we’re still doing it and out of that journey, The Cobblestone Project came about.

What we found was simple…the more we gave ourselves away, the more we began to understand and experience the “good news” (gospel) of Jesus in a wider context.  The greatest story of all time is the story of God’s pursuit of reconciling man to Himself, and through this story Jesus is the reconciliation of all things.  In short, we found that we could enter into this story of God’s reconciliation starting with serving them the way Jesus served and gave himself away unconditionally.

Over the past few years, I’ve begun to re-exam both the Old & New Testament with this added viewpoint.  Jesus often talked about the kingdom of God being near or at hand or something you could take hold of like in parables such as a person selling all they had to take possession of a treasure in a field (Matt 13:44-45).  It’s a common theme throughout the New Testament that Jesus talks about an already/not fully here kingdom of heaven.  And simply, I wasn’t experiencing that “already” part in my life.  It’s interesting that Jesus began his first public teaching by reading from Isaiah 61 . . .

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the Gospel (good news) to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”  (recorded in Luke 4:17-21)

Why would Jesus start in Isaiah?  It’s a book about God’s desire for Israel to be reconciled to Him, but Israel’s prayer’s were no longer being heard by God.  Why?  Because they had stopped being a blessing to others.  God’s simple command is to “learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, and plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:17).

It’s in this work that I’m reminded of my need for Jesus.  And so our work is an act of worship, a work to enter into the story of God’s reconciliation to the world, so that the world may know that God is good and He is the Hope of the world.

That’s a little bit of my personal story (thanks for bearing with me) and I find that The Cobblestone Project offers some practical ways of connecting these principles with application in my life.  You’ll not find a religious banner flying over Cobblestone Project because it is open for all to come, but you will find that there are many people involved that are on this same journey as I am.

Obviously the community is benefiting from the work Cobblestone is doing.  What has been the impact on you personally?

As I’ve continued down this road with my friends and family as we try to “work out our salvation”, I’ve found that my personal relationship with God has taken on an entirely new dimension that I never knew existed.  I find that as I’ve focused on the needs of others above my own, I don’t focus on my own issues like I did before.  I’m not perfect by any means, but my vertical relationship is so much richer as we reach out horizontally.

That is an incredible story, Mike.   I know many people are dealing with this same issue of “what now?” in their lives.  There always seem to be excuses for getting more involved in the community, searching for a more meaningful career, or just re-engaging in the life God meant for us to live.  Many of them are good excuses such as losing family time, risking the comfort of a familiar job, etc.   I want to address a few of these excuses.  Let’s talk about some practical issues that you and Cobblestone’s operating team have encountered during the startup phase.

Many of our readers have families and lots of outside commitments.  Have you involved your family in Cobblestone?  If so, what has been their reaction?

Cobblestone Project actually began as a decision between three families, so family is at the core of what we do.  It’s not just me and it’s just not the men; it’s the families.  This is something we do as a family.  One of our core values is that Cobblestone will “Build a Community, Family First”.  This is where we started, so in everything we do with Cobblestone we try to work in the ability for the experience to be shared as a family.  We don’t want people choosing some activity with Cobblestone over time with their children or spouse; we want families to choose an activity with Cobblestone as a family time.

This dynamic has been great because it’s opened another avenue of relationship with my wife and children.  It’s a common desire and common experience, and we are doing this together.  If you can’t remember the last time you and your wife or family worked on something together for the good of the family, that may be a queue that it’s time to find some neutral ground.  At least that was my queue.

How much time do you spend each week on Cobblestone?  Has the time commitment been more/less than you imagined?  Have you had to give up anything to make time for the organization?

It’s taken a lot of time just because it’s grown much quicker than we had expected.  The more we tried not to talk about Cobblestone as we were trying to figure out our course, the more people started seeking us out.  There’s a business side to it also that’s taken some time to establish, but it ebbs and flows at times.  The nice thing is that there are six of us on the operating team and so many incredible people surrounding us that we’ve been able to share the to-do list.

Have I given up anything?  Sleep would be the biggest thing, but I sure have grown to love my coffee a lot more.  Honestly, I’ve just had to learn to be a bit more flexible (which if you know me, you’ll know isn’t easy), and spend a bit more time planning our schedules and activities to try and maintain a balance.  It’s not easy, but this is where my heart is so I have a hard time putting it down.

What obstacles have you encountered?  How have you overcome those obstacles?

No real obstacles, but we are still learning as we go.  Probably the biggest challenge has just been trying to convey the total meaning of what we are doing.  Many people take a first glance at Cobblestone Project and put us in a box or apply a label to what we are doing that isn’t accurate.  It’s not that the gospel is over here and what Cobblestone Project is doing is over there.  At first glance a lot of people may assume that; however, we believe that the gospel is both of these things and the scriptures seem to be very clear on the priority and balance of our faith and works. 

That’s why I appreciate ReadyAimLife.com giving me a chance to tell this story because I think it gives me a place to have these types of discussions in a venue that is safe.

So many times, the tasks we think will be difficult aren’t.  What was easier than you expected?

 Actually, it’s a bit scary how easy all of this has been.  We haven’t had to push or force anything up to this point.  It has all just flowed and taken on a life of its own.  What we are doing isn’t rocket science by any means, so once we were able to articulate our idea it seems to resonate with people really quick.  I’m sure the difficult days are ahead, but we’ll face them in time.

What does the future look like for Cobblestone?

Great question . . . we operate by a simple motto “one step at a time.”  We’ve released control of the size and the scope of what we are doing.  We are just trying to take the next step which is the next right thing to do.  We want to release the launch point of the Cobblestone Project so that anyone can use it to pursue what they feel needs to be done.  So, the future of Cobblestone Project is really in the hands of those that are involved putting quarters in the washing machines at a Laundry Love Project, handing out flyers for a Good Neighbor Food Drive, or swinging a hammer at Restoration Village (which we’ve done together before). As you spend some time with these incredible people, you’ll see very quickly that the future is very bright because once these ideas have a framework the potential is incredible.  I’m anxious to see where it goes and just excited to be a part of it.

A lot of our readers are plugging along in life without a lot of passion.  They may have vague notions of doing something different, but haven’t taken the steps to make it happen.  What is your advice for others who are looking to step out and do something different, make a change?

Many of our actions are simply a result of motivation.  So, my question is “what will motivate someone to make a change?”  My advice . . . don’t worry about the long term goals or plans, just take that next “one step” that seems like the next right thing to do. 

Mike, thanks for taking the time to talk with our readers today.  Keep up the great work!

The journey that led Mike Rusch and five other like-minded people to start the Cobblestone Project is the same journey we are on here at ReadyAimLife.  It’s exciting to spend time around a guy who is figuring it out.  Mike’s enthusiasm for what he is doing is contagious and it’s easy to see why he’s being so successful.  Take a few minutes to visit the Cobblestone Project website and see how you can get involved.  As Mike said, all it takes is that next “one step” to make things happen.

There’s so much to learn from Mike and the journey he is on.  As a follow up to this interview, tomorrow I’ll post some things that I learned from speaking with Mike.  

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