Under Construction...

I'm taking a little break from blogging. Over the next month, I'll be retooling the blog, working on some new content, and thinking down the road a bit. But there won't be any updates for several weeks. When the blog re-"launches", we'll let ya know!

Happy Holidays.

No Worship at Barkstall this Sunday...Join us Downtown Instead

One last reminder. We won't be at Barkstall this Sunday but will be having a single joint service at our Downtown Campus at 10am.

That's 10am at our Downtown Campus!

See you there.

Advent Conspiracy TOTALS....

I can hardly believe how amazingly generous the good folks in our church are.
Just in the month of December, we collected over $30,000 for the Meet Malawi Project. And the total we have now collected for Malawi is right at $50,000.

Just amazing!!!

Stay tuned for updates on the progress of our project to dig a deep well and a church and school.

Well done good and faithful servants!

Water for Malawi

I'm sitting here looking at the ornament Leslie Barr made to go along with the Malawi donations she gave. Awesome stuff. I hope she sticks with that theme for a few years!

That got me thinking about all the incredible ways our folks creatively and enthusiastically shifted their Christmas celebrations around to be able to give to the Meet Malawi Project.

I am super excited to reveal the grand total raised through the Advent Conspiracy. We'll be announcing it at the 7pm service at the Launch!

Hope to see you there.

Christmas Eve Services...

Just a reminder about the candlelight service at 7pm on Christmas Eve at Barkstall. Hope you can join us. We'll be announcing the totals from the Advent Conspiracy Offering toward our goal of raising $35,000 to build a church and school in Malawi.

Also, please remember that there will be NO WORSHIP SERVICE at Barkstall on Sunday, December 27th. Instead we'll have one church wide service at our Downtown campus at 10am. I'll be preaching that service! Come on down.

A little holiday music...

As we inch closer to the holidays, here's a Christmas song from Jackson Browne about Jesus. Love the words - the images though need Jaron's touch. Merry Christmas. As the song says, " I bid you pleasure and I bid you cheer from a heathen and a pagan on the side of the rebel Jesus."

Advent Conspiracy finale

Today we wrapped up the Advent Conspiracy series with our A.C. Offering.
The funds raised through this offering will go, in full, to help build a church building, a school, and a deep well on the site of our sister church in Malawi.

You can listen to today's sermon by clicking here: AC #4.

Stay tuned for the grand total raised through the Advent Conspiracy...

The GIVE Blog

Yesterday at the Launch we got to hear from Scott and Suja. They are an amazing couple with an inspiring story. Suja and Scott shared about their passion for giving and told us about the GIVE Blog that they have started as a means for encouraging people to give more. I personally was blown away by their goal to give away 30% of their gross income. What an amazing example of extravagant generosity!

I was also captivated by the challenge currently being put forward by Scott and Suja on the Give Blog. For every donation, up to $100, made by new donors to one of 5 charities, Suja and Scott will match it. They will match up to $10,000 for each of the 5 charities. Their goal is to inspire up to $50,000 in new giving which they will then match with $50,000 of their own. What a huge impact that could have on those 5 charities.

There are also great links to all kinds of stories and resources about giving. There is even a blog post written by Christy Hurt that mentions our church and the Advent Conspiracy.

If you want to know more about The Give Blog, you can get there by clicking here: Give Blog

Giving is GOOD for you! Here's proof...

In the lead up to Christmas, CNN started a 12 day series on the value of GIVING. I'm pretty intrigued by the idea of seeing how this media company handles the idea of giving. You can see today's story by clicking on the link below:

The Power of Giving

Well, there you go. It's literally good for your health to GIVE.

May you give well this Advent.

Oh and speaking of Giving Well...You can listen to yesterday's sermon on that exact topic by clicking here or by clicking on the link under Sermon mp3's in the right side bar.

Peace

Clearing the clutter

Happy Advent!
Yesterday at the Launch was one of those good but hard messages. We asked a fairly simple question: Do our spending habits at Christmas actually honor Jesus? But this question is rooted in a fairly straightforward point: Our "stuff" clutters our view of Jesus and our experience of life in Jesus. Stuff Clutters. It just does. So stepping INTO the Advent story requires, on some level, that we clear away the clutter so that we can see Jesus more clearly.

You can listen to yesterday's sermon by clicking here: Clearing the clutter.

I'd love to hear any stories from you all about how you are clearing space to experience the presence of Christ this Advent Season!

Advent Conspiracy Starts Here...

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.
We started the Advent Conspiracy on Sunday. This year's theme is Simply Deep. It expresses our sense that the deepest, most meaningful aspects of the Christmas story are wound up in some of the simplest aspects of the story. It is a story that is simply deep. At the same time, sometimes what keeps us from really seeing and experiencing those deep truths is the lack of simplicity in our lives. Clutter distracts us from the deep.

The messages for the 4 weeks of Advent will all build on each other somewhat. So if you missed it this past Sunday, you can click on the link below and a player will open allowing you to listen to the message.

One great reason to listen is so that you can hear about this year's Advent Conspiracy Offering which will again be going to our Meet Malawi Project. We've got a crazy big, God sized goal this year and we hope you'll consider being a part of it. We think it's a phenomenal way to tell a better story this Christmas!

Here's the link: AC Sermon #1

I hate commercials...BUT YOU GOTTA SEE THIS ONE!

I've never even heard of that candy bar, but when if I ever see it, I'm buying one. (and I'm buying one for my wife too!)

New edges in the Kingdom...

This is a fantastic video that features a bunch of folks who are exploring the new shapes and new postures of life together (read that as church if you need to) in the Kingdom of God. If you've got about 10 minutes, this video paints some vivid and intriguing pictures of some of the new possibilities for what church community actually looks like.

Here's my challenge to you. Watch this video and start dreaming about what God might be whispering into reality in terms of new shapes, new postures, new understandings of what church IS.

TransFORM: Missional Community Formation from TransFORM on Vimeo.

Meet Malawi

This was one of my all time favorite Sundays. (And not just because I didn't have to preach).

Today at the Launch, we got to hear from our Meet Malawi team. All but 2 of the 13 team members who went to Malawi were able to be with us. They took turns each sharing significant aspects of the trip. We saw pictures, heard songs, listened to stories, and shared in the vision for what God is doing in us and through us. We celebrated communion using cups, bowls, and baskets that were made in Malawi. And we affirmed together the relationship of mutual encouragement we will be developing with the church in Lisanjala, Malawi. We took up the offering Malawi style (which meant we kept taking it up all service long!) We even imitated Malawian worship by having our longest service ever!

It was impossible to miss the energy, passion, and transformation that the Meet Malawi project is creating in our midst! (It was REALLY visible during the video clip of Tim Jefferson dancing!)

If you missed it and you'd like to hear the stories for yourself, look over on the right column of this blog. Under Sermon MP3's, just click on the link that says Malawi Presentation. After it loads, it will begin to play automatically.

Extra special thanks to the Malawi team for sharing today!

I love books that shake my world...

here's a quote from a book I'm reading right now:

The word missional theologically means "to be sent," so leaving is where living like a missionary really begins. Leaving isn't just about going overseas. It's about replacing personal or Christian activities with time spent building relationships with people in the surrounding culture.

Have you ever considered that, as followers of Christ, we are all called to LEAVE??? (see above)

Like I said, shaking my world. I love it. Let me just say loudly and clearly, as a pastor, if any of you folks who belong in our church community feel like you need to STOP coming to our church activities because you want to spend more time building relationships with those around you (relationships in which you can "incarnate the gospel") then know without a shadow of a doubt that you have my full blessing. I'd even say you are on the right track!!!

Stay tuned for thoughts on HOW we go once we decide to "leave"...

A lamb among wolves

In Luke 10, Jesus says that he is sending us out like lambs among wolves. What do you think it looks like for us to live as a lambs among the wolves? (Or on the other hand, what might it look like for us to live instead as wolves among the wolves?)

Best answer wins a prize.

CS Lewis quote...

This was the quote on the screen Sunday during the sermon.

He works on us in all sorts of ways. But above all, he works on us through each other. Men are mirrors, or carriers of Christ to other men. Ususally it is those who know Him that bring Him to others. That is why the church, the whole body of Christians showing Him to one another, is so important. It is so easy to think that the church has a lot of different objects - education, buildings, missions, holding services … the Church exists for no other purpose but to draw men to Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any
other purpose.  - C.S. Lewis

I have Mere Christianity in my office if you'd like to borrow it.

Somebody just told me that....

October is Pastor Appreciation Month. I had no idea.

Interestingly, it wasn't someone from my church that told me. Hmmm.

This is a great experiment...

My question is...are there any implications from this study about the way we do church?

What do you think?

Good stuff

"We shall never learn to know ourselves except by endeavoring to know God, for, beholding His greatness, we realize our own littleness; His purity shows us our foulness; and by meditating upon His humility we find how very far we are from being humble" ... Teresa of Avila (1515)

This week's sermon...

We had some technical difficulties this week and the sermon recording somehow didn't quite work. So if you are looking for the sermon to prepare for your small group, you'll need to read the manuscript.

Here it is:
Heroes: Week 4 - The movement

Heroes series intro:
I want to again thank our friends over at Granger who gave us the outlines for this series.


So last week, we heard a little teaser report from our team that went to Malawi a few weeks ago. And there was something in there that I haven’t been able to get out of my head. Christy Hurt shared her prayer with us, the prayer that she said over and over leading up to and during that trip. She prayed, “God take care of my family. And God change me.”

That just blows me away. Christy is at the top of her field as a law professor. She’s got a great family. And here she is asking God to change her, to grow her. Christy had this sense that God was beckoning her forward into something more. To become something more. Jesus, change me.

Tell me I’m not the only one for whom that resonates. I would bet that there are a host of us, who have felt that at one time or another. We wanted to turn our feet towards god and step in that direction. Maybe we were on that path for awhile. Felt close to God, close to the call he had for us. God seemed close at hand.

Maybe you remember some of the decisions that got you off the path. Maybe wrong decisions, or maybe simply chasing after the wrong things. Somehow, you got off the path. And instead of screaming down the highway journeying with God, I chose another direction and now I look around and just sort of feel like I missed it.


GPS Devices. Ours is called Maggie (Magellan). It was really helpful when we moved here, until we realized that everything is square here - not the people, the roads, I mean. How many of you ever think you know better than computer lady and go straight instead of turning right? Wives, you can answer for your husbands. We just decide, I’m going my own way. Initially, computer lady...she’s upset. Go back. U-turn. But we refuse, we drive on. I said turn, turn. Then after awhile, we realize computer lady was right. Our first instinct is to just go back to where I missed the turn. I’ll go back to where I made the mistake and from there I’ll get back on the right path. But computer lady knows better. Knows I’m so far from where I missed the turn, that it would be better if I just started where I am. Instead of me going back to where I messed up, computer lady says, “Recalculating route.” Ok here we are. In this together. no going back, better off if we just figure it out from here. Start where you are. This is our reality. Can’t go back. Can only start from right here where I am right now.

I’ve talked to alot of people who have this sense that they missed a bunch of turns in life. People who tell me there was a time when they felt close to God and were excited about following Jesus. But they just missed it. Now, they look around and feel like they are pretty far off the path. And they want it back. They long for that sense of purpose and joy they got from following Christ, but how do you get back on the path. How do we get back to what I had when I was 17?
You can’t go back. You’re old. You’re not there anymore. You are here. We all, every day, have to just start where we are. Can’t pretend all that didn’t happen. You are totally different, different knowledge, skill sets, relationships, wisdom from lots of mistakes. Time to recalculate the route from right where we are today.

That’s the beauty of the whole Jesus story. Whenever we realize we missed our turn and we’ve gotten off track, Jesus is right there waiting for us, saying “I can work with that. Let’s recalculate your route. I’ve got some great things for you to do.”

So, WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE TO ASK GOD TO RECALC MY ROUTE???

Paul in Acts 16 - There is this story about a possessed slave girl. The story tells us that she has an evil spirit that helps her tell the future and her owners were making money off her. didn’t care about her. cared about the money they made off her. And she’s following Paul and Silas screaming out, “these men are servants of the most high God who are telling you the way to be saved.” For days, she did this. followed them screaming that over and over again. And then, this is one of those great understatements in the Bible. It says Paul was in great distress. He can’t stand it any more. She’s driving them crazy. And through the power of Christ, Paul sets her free. The woman goes from being an overwhelming inconvenience to being a divine interruption.

This story brings up so many questions for me. Like, why didn’t they just set her free the first time they saw her? Why did they let this go on for days. Maybe because they were in a hurry. Had a plan. Somewhere to be. Something to do. She wasn’t a part of their chosen route.

Well the story goes on. She is set free. The evil spirit in her is gone so she can’t prophecy anymore. Owners outraged at loss of their income stream. They have P and S thrown in prison. Jail? For setting this girl free? If I’m in Paul and Silas’s shoes, I’m saying that’s it. I’m done. That’s the last time I try to help you out God. When I set off on this journey this was not the destination I had in mind. Paul & Silas could have said, well, wrong turn. Journey over. I’m done. But they don’t

Paul says, Lord I’m here. These are my circumstances. I didn’t plan to be here but here I am. Where do you want me to go from here? Recalc. my route.

In verse, 25 they are sitting in jail & what do they do? Pray and sing and worship. Everyone else listening, well yeah, captive audience. Kind of like church sometimes. Suddenly there is this earthquake, doors open, chains fall off. Guard about to commit suicide if prisoners escape. P&S says stop we’re all still here. He’s amazed. He listens to their story and asks what can I do to be saved. They tell him about Jesus - about how he died so that we can be forgiven and can live life abundantly right now.

Because Paul and Silas repeatedly allow God to recalculate their route, this man and his whole family come to faith.

God take care of my family. Jesus change me.

God is calling us simply to cooperate with him and stand against injustice cruelty poverty brokenness.

Shamma in 2 Samuel.
This was their pattern, cruel, evil, resulted in hunger and poverty. Philistines would come and steal their harvest. this year as every year, they would come and the israelites would flee. except for one. His name was Shamma
He holds his ground. he beat back the phils. he said NO MORE. no more injustice.


David same thing in 1 Samuel. Every day Goliath comes out and mocks the people of God. And David says, NO MORE. Living Bible - "don’t worry about a thing. I’ll take care of it". 

There comes a point where we say, that’s enough of that. so were gonna do something about it. We’re done with it. You know what I hadn’t planned on this. I’m surprised, but I’m in a community with alot of needs, and its gotta end. So God recalc my route.”

God take care of our family.
Jesus change us.

God wants justice humility mercy kindness. We’re just trying to help with GOD’s agenda. We as a church are committing to do something about the brokenness we see around us. We are committed to setting people free through the power of Christ. We’re going to do something about it. But it’s going to require all of us standing together. Each of us saying, God take care of our family. God change us.

God I wasn’t planning on this, but recalculate my life.


Do you remember Peter? 3 times Peter denies Christ. WAS on course, but makes a big mistake, gets way OFF course. That could have been the end for Peter. God didn’t want peter done. didn’t want him out of the race. jesus comes to Peter and says let’s recalculate your route from right where you are lets go.

Acts 2 - Peter stands up and preaches in the same community where he had not that long ago denied Peter. He preaches about the saving love of Jesus and about being set free by the power of Christ and 3000 people say I want that too.

God take care of my family.
Jesus change me.


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Look at pledge card. help out in these areas, ways to be a hero. plug in, do what I can right where I am. add value, increase our carrying capacity, etc.

Find an area where you’d like to be a hero.
lord heres where I am. I think I can help with this.
I think I can get involved right where I am and start cooperating with you and making a difference. I’m ready, God. Ready to do my part to bring the light of your love, your grace, mercy, compassion to those who don’t realize how much they matter to you.

Now if you look at this pledge card, you’ll notice that all these boxes are things in here. Scott haven’t you been telling us for 2 years that God wants us out there? Yes I have and yes He does.

Let me explain it this way. How many of you have heard of the 80 / 20 rule? Usually it means that 20% of the people do 80% of the work right? Well, we’re gonna take the 80 / 20 rule and mix it up a bit. Because our goal is 100% of us playing our part and being the hero. The 80/20 rule for us, is gonna mean this: We want every single person who is a part of our fellowship joining God in His mission.

And we want you to spend 80% of your energy doing the thing that you were made to do. 80% doing the thing that gives you life and purpose. The thing that makes your heart come alive. But even a hero has to take the garbage. We want you to give 20% of your energy towards doing the things that help us take care of one another. 20% towards the things that help us increase our carrying capacity, our ability to care for and love more people. 80% towards what brings your heart to life.
20% towards what helps the

Here’s the beauty of it. In the Kingdom of God, even the 20% can make an eternal impact. Jane Bernthal comes in here sometimes on Sunday mornings and makes this tables look great. When I’m in charge of it, the tables are lucky to get the cross set up. When she adds her touch, I can just feel the creative spirit of God weaving through here. And somebody comes for the first time and may not even consciously notice the tables, but definitely notices the spiritual feeling the candles help create and Jesus uses that moment to grab hold of that person’s heart. Jane is using her God-given gift of creativity and offering her 20% towards decorating the tables and it matters.

Here’s another side to it. Some people’s 20% will be another person’s 80%. Some of you might sign up for helping in children’s Sunday School and you’re doing it because you just know somebody needs to. That’s great. But some of you, look at these kids on Sunday morning and you just feel the Spirit of God tugging at your heart to pour into those kids. You were made for that. When you watch people like Patty Farthing talk to a 7 year old, you’re seeing Jesus at work. It’s beautiful.

Here’s how I filled mine out.
This may confirm your notions that something’s not quite right in my head, but I like middle school kids. I think they actually like me. I love hanging out with, goofing off with, and talking about Jesus and real life with teenagers. So I checked “youth ministry” and I wrote “Junior High please” on the line. And I’m volunteering on Wednesday nights at junior high youth group and I’m loving it. We’re having a blast.

I want to ask you this morning to find your 80. It may be found taking care of the family. Or it may have nothing to do with Sunday mornings. What’s your 80?
But I also want to ask you to find your 20. Even a hero has to take out the trash sometimes.

God take care of your family.
Jesus change me.

Jesus help us change the world

And for my next trick...

This is the 200th post on my blog.
As such, I'm celebrating by posting an updated suggestion for our sign in the cornfield outside Barkstall.

Thought for the day

"Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction."

Meet Malawi Project pictures...

If you'd like to see the pictures from the Meet Malawi Project team, they are now available. Just click on the link below. Notice that there are a whole bunch of different albums (each person on the team is uploading their personal set of pictures). There are also albums featuring some of the different stops along their journey.

Take your time and browse each set. It's a great way to get a feel for what the team experienced. There are some amazing pictures in here.

Meet Malawi Pictures

Enjoy!

Monday's Leadership Nugget

"The leader must appreciate that the vision is the deepest "yes", and as such, the integrity of the vision requires a thousand no's."

- Will Mancini in Church Unique

ALMOST HERE!!!!

The Malawi Team is on the LEX bus and on their way to Champaign. They'll be arriving at Illini Terminal on University, sometime between 2 and 2:30pm.

So if you want to be sure to be there when their bus arrives, best bet is to get there just before 2pm.

Amazingly, every leg of their trip home (except for the first one - flat tire) has been ahead of schedule.

Hope you can join us at the terminal to welcome them home!

Malawi Update - The Return...

Hey folks.
If you are considering joining us at the train / bus station to welcome the Malawi Team back home, just a quick update on timing. They will be returning this Sunday afternoon. The group may actually be back at the station as early as 2:30pm. That is actually the time on their LEX reservation. Of course that all depends on quite alot of things going just right. So it may be later than that.

We figure that we'll know for sure before the 10:30 service ends and we should be able to announce it at that point.

I'll also come home and update my blog immediately with a more specific arrival time.

Bottom line, we'll have to play it by ear a bit. But we do hope you'll find a way to come join us in celebrating the faithfulness of our Malawi Team by welcoming them home!

Thanks much.

Malawi Welcome Home Party

We want to invite you all to join us in welcoming the Malawi Team back to Champaign.
We'll be meeting them at the Train Depot / Bus Station on University.

They are currently scheduled to arrive at approximately 3:45pm on Sunday afternoon. Obviously that could change depending on the timeliness of planes, luggage, buses, etc. We should hear from them during the 10:30 worship services and will be able to confirm at both campuses what time they will be arriving.

By all accounts, it has been a great trip and I think it would be a wonderful wrap up to the trip if we had a crowd of folks there to welcome them home!

Stay tuned for more.

Malawi update - Thursday

Everything is going great. It genuinely sounds like the team members have just been blown away on this trip. In those short little calls, we can seriously hear it in their voices. God is working in them! Can't wait to hear all the details.

One little tidbit from yesterday. The team got to go on a moonlight safari drive. So they were out in the middle of nowhere, out in the midst of the African wildlife, and they get a flat tire. Can you imagine sitting there in the pitch black, not really knowing what's around you, waiting on the tire to get changed? Well, sounds like it was fixed easily and the safari drive was great.

God is good. Can't wait to hear more!

Keep praying.

Malawi update - Wednesday!

Many thanks to Tim Jefferson and Greg Cozad whose cell phones have made it possible for the team to occasionally stay in touch with us! Every few days, we're getting calls (that usually last about a minute) with super quick updates.

Here's the latest.
The group spend yesterday and part of today with Opportunity International. This is the organization through whom we are providing micro-financing to people in Lisanjala grow their own businesses. Our team got to meet together with the trust group (the group of 15 or so local people who received loans together and who meet together for spiritual support and business mentoring). Our team also got to experience the training seminar that the Opportunity International clients receive. It's pretty exciting to know that our partnership has allowed a whole group of families to work themselves out of poverty and to increase their ability to provide food for the families, education for their children, and many other things.

This evening, our team was headed to a wildlife preserve where they are hoping to catch up rest and showers and also will get to see some of the beauty and natural wonder of Malawi.

Tomorrow the team will be visiting a few other villages to learn about some of the ways that churches are healing their communities through health clinics and clean water programs. The team is hoping that these experiences will reveal new ways that God might be inviting us to partner with our new friends in Malawi.

Keep them in your prayers. And keep praying for all of us who are waiting expectantly (if not so patiently) for our loved ones to get back home!!!

Monday update from Malawi

Well, it turns out some actual details got lost in translation when we were talking with Melissa on the cell phone, with speaker phone, held up to my microphone at church.

The Malawi team has not had a shortage of drinking water. There has been enough of that. What they've been missing is running water. Which means showers and flushable toilets have been temporarily sacrificed. But I talked with Melissa today and she said the water is running again and everything is great.

In case you missed this in earlier information, the team spent Sunday afternoon and all day today "shadowing" a family in the village of Lisanjala. This means they just spent the entire 2 days living life with a family. I know that as the team prepared for the trip, these 2 days of shadowing were the part they were most nervous about. What would they eat? Where would they go to the bathroom? What would they spend their time doing? What would they talk about? HOW would they communicate? The amazing thing is that from everything we've heard, these 2 days of shadowing may just turn out to be everyone's favorite part. We are hearing so many amazing stories of our team members just being so incredibly embraced, welcomed, and loved. It sounds phenomenal. Can't wait to hear more about it!

Keep the team in your prayers!

Malawi Update from Sunday, Sept 20

This was a complete surprise - I didn't find out about it until about 5 minutes before worship on Sunday.
But the Malawi team was able to phone us from Lisanjala during worship. It was pretty darn cool! Though I have to admit it was tough to hear my wife's voice and not be able to just chat with her a little. But anyway.

Here's what we heard:
They are having an awesome experience. When they arrived at the airport in Malawi, they were greeted by a choir from our sister church! This is pretty remarkable, because many of those choir members had never even been to the big city, much less to the airport. It was a tremendous display of welcome from our sister church members!

The group spent Sunday morning worshipping with our sister church in Lisanjala. They had a big crowd, including well over 150 kids. Scott Anderson and Jeannie Murray gave a children's message that included some lessons on dental hygiene! Even though they had way more kids than they were expecting, the supply of toothbrushes and toothpaste that Scott brought "multiplied" and every kid got one of each. Melissa and Rick participated in the service and we gave the church a communion service set that was engraved with the names of our two churches on it. I believe that set was used for communion that day!

By the way, the worship service lasted between 4 and 5 hours, which was great to hear seeing as how I preached another marathon sermon yesterday!

The team members were matched up with host families from the village and they spent Sunday afternoon. It sounds like every host family had a person with them who could translate for our team members. They spent the day learning about each other's culture and way of life. The team members gave gifts to each family. I heard that Greg Cozad brought a picture album that his host family had a great time looking through with him.

They are having a few challenges. The banks have been closed for several days due to a national holiday, so they haven't been able to exchange money into the local currency. There also appears to have been a shortage of water, due to rationing. They mentioned that this was an insightful experience into the real need for clean drinking water. Melissa mentioned that they were drinking alot of Coke for the time being. A later text message suggested that the water issue had been worked out.

They asked for prayers for continued health, protection, and safety. Let's all continue to pray that God would work mightily in the hearts of our team members and that they would return so full of God's love and God's heart that they would lead us to an ever greater vision for what it means to love our neighbor!

From everything we hear, it sounds like our team members are being warmly welcomed and are jumping head first into the lives of the people in Lisanjala. We only caught hints of the ways they are being impacted and can't wait to hear more! Tim Jefferson may have summed it up best with a one word text message he sent to Kelley: "Amazing."

Malawi update #3

And the journey continues...
The Malawi team has arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa. They'll spend the night there before the last leg of the trip to Malawi.

Malawi update #2

I got a text at around 10:30 last night saying that the group had arrived in Senegal (which is on the northwest coast of Africa). They were stopping to refuel. Right about now, they should be approaching South Africa where they will spend the night. They've been gone for about 24 hours and still have one more flight to go. It's a long way to Malawi!

The journals that Carol Thomas made for the kids are phenomenal. They've been a great way for the kids to process through some of the emotions of mom being gone. Thanks Carol.

Malawi update #1

Got this from Scott Anderson around noon today. It was too good not to post...

Hi Scott. You encouraged me to take this "leap of faith" and I'm so glad you did. This place is amazing!! A whole different world. Talk about diversity. The energy level here is amazing and we are all getting along great. The food is just so so but that's not surprising. Haven't seen any wild animals yet but lots of interesting people watching. That's all for now. From gate B17 at O'Hare. Ndapita (goodby in chichewa)

I love that guy!
Keep praying for the team as they are departing Chicago right about now.

Meet Malawi Project hits the road...

Actually they are in the air. The team of 13 left Champaign this morning at 7:30 and are on their way ultimately to the village of Lisanjala in Malawi. Please keep them in your prayers. The team is so excited about seeing how God is going to work in them and through them as this new mission partnership kicks off.

I need a hero....

Heroes.
Fall Sermon Series @ the Launch.
Starts September 20th

Have you ever had the feeling you were meant for something extraordinary?

A long time ago, events were set in motion that destined humans to experience life with unbelievable freedom and extraordinary abilities. Within us, with God's help, lies the potential to forever impact the world...in all it's brokenness. Poverty, loneliness, disease, hunger, and darkness have settled over our planet like a plague.

The brightest hope for a dying world?

Men and women who will recognize their abilities and act, right where they are. It could cause a ripple-like effect the world has never known and the waves of change are already beginning.

Ordinary people, with extraordinary abilities.

We call them HEROES.

Join us as we spend 5 weeks exploring the hero within each of us - the God given abilities and strengths that enable us to give back. Think you don't have anything like that inside of you? Think again.

You were meant for something extraordinary.


PS. I double dog dare you to invite a friend!

One Car Wednesday...

Sorry for the long delay with no blog updates.
Been tough to get back in the groove since vacation! But here we go.

So, I am averaging 3 days a week of biking to work. It's about 6.5 miles each way. So just under 20 miles a week. Our Subaru gets roughly 22 mpg in the city. So I estimate that I'm saving roughly just under a gallon of gas a week by biking.

That's kind of fun.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to say a special thanks to the grey Honda civic that passed me on Kirby (just west of Duncan). I know it was important to get in front of that truck when the lanes merged. I just hope I didn't hinder your progress. Thanks for trying to give me a half inch of clearance as you sped by. I literally felt your side view mirror brush my hand as you passed. I only hope I didn't put a scratch on your mirror. I'd feel bad if I did.

Vacation highlights

What an awesome vacation. 2 weeks...no internet. Just relaxing.

We spent the first 4 days camping in North Carolina with our old friends Jeff and Steph. Great campsite right on the New River (which is actually the oldest river in America - they say). Spent a day canoeing on the river - then floating down in it on pink dollar store pool rafts, which I think really impressed the locals.

Spent a few days in Durham at our friend's house. Toured Duke University (the chapel there is stunning). Had one of the best burritos of my life at a place down the street. If you're ever in Durham, its the Mexican restaurant with the cow on top of the roof.

Then our friends took us swimming at an old rock quarry. Me and Jeff went cliff jumping off a 25 foot cliff. I tried to be macho and just climb right up and jump. It worked until i hit the water. It kind of felt like there was an inch of concrete on top of the water. Fortunately for me the kids didn't see my first jump so I got to experience it twice. There was also a pretty cool rope swing, except that you had to climb a tree to reach the rope. I have to give myself some props for pulling a full back flip off the rope swing on my first try.

We spent the last week down at my folks lake house on Lake Harding in Alabama. This was one of the best vacation weeks of my life. I'm not trying to make any kind of lifestyle statements here, but I seriously think that disconnecting from the internet, and texting, and (gasp) Facebook, for a week was the biggest part of helping me relax. We went out on the boat about a dozen times. The kids spent hours on the inner tube behind the boat. And I spent hours doing absolutely nothing.

But i did alot of fishing.
Caught a bunch of blue gill and bream. And I caught a half dozen big catfish. But the biggest one was about 8 lbs. At least. Mighta been 20. The more I think about it, it was really about the size of a VW.

I realized how completely relaxed I was when Melissa wondered out loud how church was going and I said "Today's Sunday?"

Mighty good vacation.

My 3

I showed a video many months ago that was recorded by Penn (of the Las Vegas magic act, Penn & Teller). Penn is a well known atheist and very antagonistic towards organized religion. However, in this video, he is describing a conversation with a man who gave him a Bible. Penn is surprisingly respectful and appreciative and seemingly touched by this man's gesture.

What I find surprising in the video is that Penn, again an atheist, says that he has NO respect for a person of faith who ISN'T willing to share that faith. He basically says, "If i were walking across the street and there were a truck bearing down on me that I didn't see, how much would you have to hate me to not try to save me from being killed by that truck." His point is that Christians who don't invite other people into connectedness with Jesus are, in his words, HATEFUL. Not just ambivalent. HATEFUL.

I've found myself praying the last few weeks that we, as a community of Christ followers, would LOVE our neighbor so much that we would do anything to invite them into the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

Here's my challenge: First, start praying that you would love people that much. That you would care about their souls that much. Then, ask God to put 3 people on your heart. 3 people that you know and who you don't think are connected to a community of worship. Then start praying for those 3 people. Start praying for chances to get to know them better and to be the presence of Christ in their lives. Pray for chances to tell them about how Jesus makes a difference in your life. And pray for God to draw those 3 to himself. And if you can't think of 3 friends who fit that category, then start praying that you would meet some new people because a full 1/3 of the population of Champaign-Urbana would classify themselves that way. Let's start praying and see what God does. What would happen if every member of our church took this challenge to heart? (And I'm not talking about what would happen for our church. I'm talking about what would happen in and for our city?)

If you send me an email with the names of your 3, I'll join you in praying for them (and for you).

What do you think?

Any takers?

My friend Kelly linked to a blog by Erwin McManus.
Here's a quote from the blog and a link if you want to read it all: Mosaic

What is happening across the world and here at home is that there is an army of cross cultural missionaries who have become the new leaders of the church. Their calling isn’t to pastor churches that focus on the happiness of its members, but to mobilize the church for the purpose of fulfilling God’s mission of reconciling the world to himself. We used to send our missionaries out and it kept the mission a safe distance from us. Some how they broke back in and decided they were not going without us. At Mosaic we have no members, only missionaries. There is nothing to join except a community on a mission. We have little patience for self indulgent spirituality that insists on everything being about us.

I was at a seminar (at the Champaign Country Club of all places) and listened to a presenter who asked this question: What is keeping your church from reaching the next 100 people for Jesus Christ?

Certainly there are alot of answers to that question. But I think it starts with one thing: A passion for the lost. We are missing a compelling vision to reach those who aren't connected to Jesus Christ.

Don't miss the point here: This doesn't mean we don't do anything for ourselves. A part of our connecting people into the redeemed community of Christ is to actually have that community to connect them into. We are called to be a set apart, loving, self-less community of Christ followers. But the defining trait of that community is our MISSION of seeking to invite and draw others into that community of grace in Jesus Christ.

I'm convicted by this idea. In case you haven't noticed.

What is keeping us from reaching the next 100 people for Jesus Christ?
What would it look like for us to chase after them?

Comments are welcomed!

One Car Wednesday (a day late...again)

So, I've biked into work twice this week. Woulda been 3 if not for rain.
And let me just say that Champaign is woefully lacking in bike friendly shoulder space on roads. I usually end up on the sidewalk because riding on the streets is not far removed from russian roulette.

Had an interesting experience on the way home today. Got caught at the traffic light on Kirby and Mattis. And there was this girl, also on a bike, sitting at the light as well. We're both riding on the same sidewalk. She was there first, so I obviously let her cross ahead of me.

Awkwardly, we are both going the same direction. And going about the same speed.

I begin to notice that she's looking back at me frequently. Not in a "he's kind of cute" kind of way, but in more of a "I think this guy might be stalking me" kind of way. As I'm trying to slow down and eliminate the freaky stalker vibe, she suddenly veers out into the road and crosses to the other side.

Which creates a whole new awkwardness. Now we are biking side by side on opposite sides of the street. And still going roughly the same speed.

At that point, all I can say is that instinct kicked in. It was like 2 cars at the stop light both revving their engines. I mean, there is just no way, NO WAY, I'm letting this girl beat me down the road. I kick it into low gear and crank it down the sidewalk for a full block. I'm fighting the temptation to look over and see how I'm doing. But finally I take a little peak. She's nowhere to be seen. She must have turned off on a side street almost immediately.

All I can say is, thank goodness, because one more block at that speed and I might've passed out.

All of which is to say you see a bike on the road and there isn't much shoulder, give em a brake. It might be your pastor!

What if...

What if we dropped the label "Member" and instead went with "Missionaries"?

What do you see as the difference?

Some nasty statistics from the PCUSA

So, our denomination recently released membership and giving statistics for 2008. It ain't pretty. As a denomination, we lost over 69,000 members last year. There are obviously a lot of things that go into that number. 34,000 members died. another 35,000 left when their churches left the denomination altogether. Most staggering to me is the fact that 104,000 who were removed from the rolls and appeared to not join another church. And our churches did add 100,000 new members. But the net result of all that was the biggest one year loss of membership in our denomination since 1983.

You can read the full report by clicking here: PCUSA Statistics

A friend of mine, Kelly Kannwischer (Presbyterian Global Fellowship), points out the bigger problem. The stated clerk of our denomination, in his report about the statistics, is asking all the wrong questions. He says that we need to strengthen our answers to these questions: "Why do I believe in God? Why do I go to church? Why do I go to that particular church?" And the implication is that if we can answer those questions, we'll be able to convince people to join our church.

Here's a response from Kelly regarding that perspective:

"the question for people in the postmodern world is not what is true but what is real. To be effective witnesses of the Gospel, it is not what we can posit or defend theologically (although that remains important). Rather, to be effective witnesses of the Gospel in today's culture requires authenticity, deep relationships, and sacrificial action for the sake of others."

Let's be really clear about something: It is absolutely critical that we know the Jesus we worship. It's desperately important for us to be able to articulate the good news about the grace of God given to us in Jesus Christ. We will always need to continue growing in our understanding and application of the scriptures for our lives.

But understanding by itself will never result in a world transformed by Jesus Christ. The question we need to be able to answer is this:

"Who is Jesus and how am I trying to be more like him?"

When we love our neighbor more than ourselves, our evangelism will be authentic and effective.
When we are as committed to healing our community as we are to our longstanding church programs, then our witness will be genuine and true.
When we start asking how we can be the body of Christ IN the world, how to be Christ-like for the sake of our neighbor, then we will at least be asking the right questions.

Any thoughts? Complaints? Questions?

what a week...

So me and the fam spent all of last week down at Camp Carew in SOUTHERN Illinois (which is a world unto itself). It was a great week but a crazy and hard week. Glad we did it. But I'm wiped out. Picked 14 ticks off me. Caught 2 big catfish. Tipped a canoe. Slept in a hogan. Good stuff.

Now it feels like summer can start. It's been a sprint up until and through last week. But now it feels like I can shift my attention ahead to the coming year. (Yikes.) You never know what's gonna come up when I start thinking and dreaming ahead. I'll keep you posted.

My friend Tammy

I need your help. Would you please pray with me for my friend Tammy?
She is a missionary in India where she runs an orphanage. It would take pages to describe some of the amazing things she has done there. Tammy prays with tremendous strength and God answers her prayers in miraculous ways. And she has taught those children in India to pray the same way!

Well, Tammy needs some prayers herself, now. She is in the hospital with pancreatitis. She just had a first surgery to remove a gall stone that had caused inflammation in several organs. She needs to have her pancreas removed. The degree of inflammation means that laproscopic surgery might not be possible. Regular surgery is more risky and more prone to infection.

Bottom line, please pray for my friend Tammy. Pray for success in the attempt at laproscopic surgery. Pray for swift and full recovery. Pray for healing. Pray also for peace for all her little children in the orphanage that are, with us, praying for her!

Thanks.

Gettin' back to my roots

The South Georgia Yard Swing

Can we get one of these at the Launch?
How awesome would it be to preach from the hanging couch?

In case you missed this cool idea...

So a member of our congregation had an idea following the generosity series.
The idea is described on this new blog. This is not connected to the church in any way. It's just one person's idea.

Take a peek. You might be able to help. Or to be helped.

Click here: Generosity In C.U.

Jesus walks into a tattoo parlor...

So, don't ask me why, but I found myself in a tattoo parlor recently. And it was a little bit of an eye opening experience. I just don't get to hear that kind of language very often in the church office. I mean, did you realize that you can use the F-bomb as a noun, an adjective, and adverb, and a verb, all in the SAME SENTENCE???? I'm sitting there listening to these rather graphic conversations about casual sex, and heavy drug use and I'm just praying that nobody asks me what I do for a living.

Then I have this picture pop in my head of Jesus hanging out in that tattoo parlor. And I realize that it's exactly the kind of place Jesus would want to be. Those are Jesus' kind of people.

That's exactly what made the religious folks so mad about Jesus. He actually ate meals with "those kind of people". He went to their homes. That's what the whole God-in-the-flesh thing was all about: God becoming one of us, God moving into the neighborhood, God living right smack dab in the middle of our ugly, broken, warped lives.

So I'm watching this guy get a tattoo - its a huge cross that covers most of his forearm. And the thought occurs to me: what would these guys think if they came and watched ME at MY work? What would they think of my world? What would they think of my life? What would they think of my faith? What would they think of MY Jesus? (And I'm intentionally saying MY Jesus because my life and work and faith and words and choices all play a part in the way I communicate Jesus).

Here's a quote that I've used before that says what I'm trying to say much better than I can say it:

Jesus's teaching consistently attracted the irreligious while offending the Bible-believing, religious people of his day. However, in the main, our churches today do not have this effect. The kind of outsiders Jesus attracted are not attracted to contemporary churches, even our most avant-garde ones. We tend to draw conservative, buttoned-down, moralistic people. The licentious and liberated or the broken and marginal avoid church. That can only mean one thing. If the preaching of our ministers and the practice of our parishioners do not have the same effect on people that Jesus had, then we must not be declaring the same message that Jesus did. If our churches aren't appealing to younger brothers, they must be more full of elder brothers than we'd like to think.

That's from Tim Keller's "The Prodigal God".

All of this got me re-thinking some things.

I found myself hoping that one of those guys might actually ask me what I do for a living. Maybe they will next time.

Check out Jaron's sermon...

In case you missed it, Jaron spoke the truth on Sunday at the Launch.
Good stuff about our new mission statement!

You can hear it by clicking on the top link on the right side (under Sermon mp3's)

Parents on Facebook

So, I've found it fascinating to watch the Facebook phenomenon spread into older generations of adults. When I first got on Facebook (and before that MySpace), the only adults I saw on there were youth pastors who were using those sites to connect with kids. And most of the time, that just resulted in this slightly scary stalker feeling.

Recently, I had a conversation with a parent who told me that their son doesn't really use Facebook anymore because all of his friend's parents are on it. And if we're doing it, it can't really be cool, right?

This reminds me of a quote I heard once, I seem to recall it being the lead singer of the Ramone's but I could be totally wrong about that. Anyway, this singer was asked to define Rock n Roll and said something to the effect of: "Rock and Roll is whatever music makes the parents mad". (He actually used much more colorful language than that.)

So...that got me thinking that maybe the very best way to reinforce cultural behaviors among our youth is to get mad about it.

Or, vice versa, maybe the very best way to change cultural patterns of behavior that bother us is for us adults to embrace those behaviors and start acting that way too.

For example, all of us adults could start wearing extremely baggy pants that sag way down revealing most of our underwear. (come to think of it, that might be a nice corrective for the tendency of our belt lines creeping upwards as we get older.

So, now I'm going to try to focus on a sermon with images of Chuck Carlson in sagging pants stuck in my head!!!

Hey. It's Monday. I'll have something better tomorrow.

Prayer in public schools...

OK, so the blog title was just trying to get your attention.
But, in truth, there are some really interesting moments where "worlds collide" when you have a church that meets in a school.

Last night was a great example.

There were a dozen or so of us who gathered at Barkstall last night simply to serve the school. They asked for our help and it was really an honor to be able to meet that need. Towards the end of our work, we all circled up and we prayed together. We prayed for the families of the teachers who died last year. We prayed for the safety and nurture of the children at Barkstall. We prayed for encouragement and hope and joy for current teachers. And we prayed that our partnership and our presence, as a church that meets IN barkstall, would point towards the love and care of Jesus.

The work we were doing was mostly gardening. We were helping clean out the inner courtyard at Barkstall which will be reworked as a memorial to those teachers (both of whom were members of our church). I had a very strong sense that, through our prayers and our labor, this memorial garden will be a place where the Spirit of God will speak peace and nurture and care to the students at Barkstall.

Worlds colliding.

God actively working in all kinds of place.

Barkstall needs our help!!!

Please give this prayerful consideration.

Barkstall school, our Sunday morning home, is need of some help.
You probably remember that 2 teachers at Barkstall passed away last year and the school is redoing the inner courtyard in their honor. As a part of that, they need a bit of manual labor to prepare the ground.

The tasks are fairly simple:
1. Weeding
2. Moving rocks (fist sized rocks).

That's it. Anyone could help. I hope lots of you WILL help.

I'd like to organize a work party this Wednesday evening (yes, that's 2 days from now). If I hear from a few of you, I'll go ahead with the plans. I'll be there either way.

Please email me if you can make it! Wednesday at 6pm at Barkstall. We'll work for an hour or two (or until we finish).

Thanks in advance.

Oh, and if you come, you can be one of the first to see my new hair cut. Its a doozy.

Peace
Scott

A really cool Generosity Idea

So I was forwarded a link today from someone in our church. This person got an idea based on the generosity series and ran with it. I think its a great idea.

So I want to encourage you to click on the link below and check out one person's suggestion for how we can give ourselves away to one another!

Take a look:
Generosity in C-U (psst. click that <)

I've also put a permanent link to the Generosity blog over on the right side bar. Hope you'll check it out!

Meet some real live missionaries...

Come join us for refreshments and fellowship! Bob & Carol Kuiken are in town!
They have been with Wycliffe Bible Translators for 25+ years. Their work at Faith Academy in the Philippines has helped change the lives of hundreds of kids who have come through.

Where:
Marty and Melody Kane's House
805 Breen Dr.
Champaign, IL, 61820

When:
Thursday, May 14, 2009 7:30PM

Questions:
Email Melody Kane: melkane@gmail.com
Phone: 217- 722-6810

Hey Dads...Mother's Day is one week away.

OK Dad's, you're gonna have to trust me on this one.
I've got a great idea for mother's day.

Next Sunday (which would be exactly one week from today), you could amaze your wife with your Generosity by volunteering to teach children's Sunday School. It's a beautiful idea really. Your wife gets to sit and enjoy worship. Your kids get to see you volunteering in church. You get the pleasure of knowing that you are making a difference. The sheer creativity of this simple idea is going to be hard to match.

If the idea sounds great, but totally freaks you out, Barb Buttlar has arranged a very simple video based curriculum that requires minimal prep while producing maximum results! So there really is no reason to not take advantage of this great opportunity. I had several moms come up to today after church and agree that this is really a fantastic idea.

NOTE: This idea is sure to make your wife smile, but should NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE be interpreted as an ALTERNATIVE to your responsibility to also honor the moms in your life through a somewhat more tangible gift!!!

So MAN UP and get it done!
Email me to sign up for this amazing opportunity: scott.keeble@firstchurchchampaign.org

Mom's feel free to forward a link to this article to as many men in the church as you can think of!!!

I promised not to use GUILT...

We're heading towards week 3 of our Generosity series.
There is one thing I'm increasingly sure of. Our first (and probably hardest) task is to invite God to change our hearts.
Real generosity will only happen when our hearts are transformed and freed by God. That's the job of the Holy Spirit. But its our job to open our hands and let God have access to our hearts.

So...that's where it starts. I'm praying that you'll open your hearts and that God will respond by transforming your hearts.

THAT SAID
I've really been having a tough time this week with a couple of very tough and very straight forward verses.

1 John 3:17,18 - If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth.

Malachi 3:8-10 -  "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' 
      "In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse.

Amos 5 (the whole chapter) - God basically says "I hate your worship because it isn't matched by real (maybe generous) compassion and active care for the poor and oppressed. I hate your assemblies. I hate your songs."

What do we do with those kinds of verses? There's quite a bunch of them.
It seems that there is a fine line somewhere between guilt and honest conviction about the ways we fall short. And maybe for fear of getting too close to guilt, we just use avoidance instead.

Maybe its enough to just read the WORD and let the Holy Spirit work.

thoughts?

I REALLY wanna know what you think...

So we're going into week 3 of the Generosity series.
This is tough stuff. It's tough to say. I know it's tough to hear. God is challenging me deeply in my personal life as I think through this stuff. I hope God's doing the same in you.

Last week, we asked you to think about what God's answer would be to you if you asked him, "God, what am I missing?" We asked you to take some time to consider what the things might be that bind you, shackled you, prevent you from being truly free and truly generous. Then we gave you the chance to write down your thoughts - anonymously - on scrap paper. (Don't miss this coming Sunday's unveiling of our artist in residence did with our shackles).

There were some amazing answers. Here's what some of us wrote:
ambition
need to maintain self image
selfishness
I want to but don't know how
fear
debt
my stuff
self centered
taxes
my appetite
disobedience
too controlling
never satisfied
the need to be wanted
too scared.
TOO SCARED!
scared to take the first step
I've been hurt by the church

Some really powerful stuff. I read these notes and see how clearly so many of us want to be what Jesus intends us to be. I hear loudly the longing for real freedom. And I see the pain of knowing that things are holding us back.

The good news is that as we continually offer those things to Jesus, he takes our shackles and breaks them and gives us back freedom and real, abundant, meaningful life. We'll talk about stepping out in trust this coming Sunday.

So what do you think?
How is this series impacting you?
How is it making you mad?
Do you just wish it would go away?
What are you learning?
What are we missing?

I really want to know. If you are comfortable commenting here, just click on the word "comment" below this article. You can choose the anonymous option if you prefer. I'd love to hear from you.

A near perfect weekend...

I know I didn't do anything to deserve it. But I'll take it! Especially after last week. But, this was a great weekend. Some "thanks" are in order...

First of all, it was hot and sunny. Thanks, God.

On Friday, I got an invite to fill in for a cancellation at the Young Life Golf Tournament. I got to putz around with Steve Tyler (who let me drive the cart and who had a few good drives of his own with his crafty little 3 wood) and we were matched up with Matt Lammers and Matt's dad. Thanks for the invite Matt! I don't think I hit a fairway all day with my driver, but I had a couple of killer approach shots and played well enough to want to do it again. Matt Lammers can hit a ball about 3 miles. On one of our best holes, a 500+ yard par 5, Matt hit his drive so far that I only needed a 9 iron to hit the green on our second shot.

Then we had our small group on Friday nights. Yep, that's right. Our small group is so rockin that we give up a weekend evening for it. And it's always pretty much the best night of my week. Thanks fluffer uppers!!!

Saturday, I had YMCA football. Always good for a laugh. And met some cool parents whose kid is on our team. Thanks Y!
Then I took the kids to the Illini Spring Game. We were one ticket short and I was trying to find a ticket booth when a dude just handed me a ticket. Thanks dude!

Then we came back home and took Lucy to play in the creek. It was her first time playing in the water and she loved it. Went crazy. Lots of jumping and splashing and laughing. It was really fun. We saw a good dozen big ole carp in the creek! And we caught two teeny little baby turtles, no more than an inch across. They were just floating down the creek. And the ducks were out with their little baby ducklings. (Glad Lucy didn't see them!) Good times at the creek. Thanks, creek!

Then we got to spend Saturday afternoon and evening with some great new friends. They live on a big lake out in Mahomet and there's something about water that just soothes my soul. Eric asked me if I wanted to fish, and yeah I really did want to fish. It's been years. I wasn't expecting to catch anything. But I did. 4 bass and a crappie. The biggest bass was probably 12-14 inches. Not bad. Thanks Eric! And the food was phenomenal, especially the dessert! It would have been awesome if we were sitting in a cave eating it. But we were sitting on the deck overlooking the lake. It was perfect. Best dessert I've had in years. Thanks Jessi.

And then came Sunday. At church we had the SAFE house guys sing for us. One of the guys shared his "spoken word" testimony. Very cool. My kids loved it! When they started, our little man said real loud to Melissa; "Mom, is this black music?" Those fella's even got us Presbyterians to clap! Can you believe it? I love preaching when those guys are there. They say stuff when I make a good point! Thanks guys!

And then after church, I went grocery shopping. And I found everything on the list. And I only had to ask for help once. Thanks ricotta cheese.

All in all...this has been one for the books. Or the blog.

I've got a cold...

Not just any cold.
I've got a man-cold.

For those of you unfamiliar with the serious implications of this condition, here is a bit of background:



Now in our case, Melissa doesn't have a cold. She has a stress fracture in her foot and she's supposed to elevate it and stay off it as much as possible.

Which is all well and good.

But...I need some soup.

Now that's commitment

This just goes to show how incredibly full of awesometricity our Launch Small Groups must be.
My good buddy Mark (I promised not to identify him but his last name rhymes with Calender) turned down tickets to the Cubs / Cards baseball game on Friday, just so that he could be sure to make it to small group.

I'm proud of you Mark!

Taxes Taxes Everywhere

I'm sitting in my office watching the Tea Party protesters marching around Westside Park protesting high taxes and government bailouts and deficits and such. Having just sent in our tax return, I feel their pain!

Ironically, I'm sitting at my desk working on a sermon on Generosity.

And I'm sitting here reading a book that gathered together a host of studies on the giving habits of Americans. Please know that I am not making a political statement. I would just as soon pay lower taxes, given the choice. The following comments have more to do with church than with state. This isn't about taxes. It's about generosity. There is a difference. I'm pretty sure.

But I just can't get over these statistics. Rather discouraging.

According to one study, 50% of non-religious people in America reported giving ZERO dollars per year to any kind of charity or ministry or social service organization.
And the average non-religious person gives away less than 1% of their income.

Well, thank goodness for religious people, right?
Maybe not.
22% of Christians gave ZERO dollars away (that includes giving to church, united way, salvation army bell ringers, etc).
(AND yes you read that correctly, more than 1 in 5 Christians give away not one thin dime).
And the average Christian gives away less than 3% of their income.
Interestingly, other religions are more generous than Christians with Mormons leading the way at 5.2%.

But not us right? I mean us Presbyterians are well educated, usually rather successful, and, one would assume, more generous than the average giver.

Well, according to a 2000 study by the Center on Philanthropy, Presbyterians reported giving an average of 1.8% of their income. That's TOTAL giving with about half (.9%) of it going to religious giving and about half going to non-religious giving.

One last surprising statistic: The more people make, the LESS they give. It holds true for religious people and non-religious people. Somewhere in the 6 digit income range, people start to give a higher percentage, but until then, the people who have the highest capacity to give actually give the least (in terms of % of income).

PS. Its tempting to think that the numbers must be flawed. They probably are. The truth is probably even uglier. Numerous studies have shown that people almost always over-report their actual giving when answering surveys.

I'm not ready to make any summary statements about the statistics. And, again, I'm not making a political statement here.

I just hope those folks out there protesting higher taxes aren't counting on the church to step in and meet the real needs of people in our community and our country.

What do you think?

Spring Small Groups

This Sunday will be the start of our spring small group series. See the promo video below for more info!
We still have space in a few of our sermon based small groups if you haven't signed up yet.

The small groups will meet weekly for 8 weeks.
The first 5 weeks will be studying the Generosity Theme that is this year's mission emphasis.
The last 3 weeks will be about our vision / mission.

The groups are meeting on several different nights and in several different places around the C-U area. Sign up sheets will be posted at the Launch this Sunday before and after worship.

Email me if you have questions.

Generosity Promo Video

A little interview about our upcoming series...



credits to Granger for the idea.

Three Great Statements

The Great Commission: "Go and make disciples" - Jesus
The Great Commandment: "Love God and Love Neighbor" - Jesus
The Great Commitment: "Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me daily." - Jesus

I keep running across tri-fold expressions that make simple but profound summaries of who we are called to be as a community of Christ followers. I read the above 3 in a sermon by Darryl Johnson recently.

What do you think of the above 3 statements as summarizing the PURPOSE of the CHURCH???




FYI...I preached on the 3rd statement this past Sunday. (You can listen to it here on my blog - right column)

Monday reload

So the portapotties are still out there on the street. The one on the left is leaning a bit. I think the additional weight added to it over the weekend is causing it to start sinking into the mud. Gonna get ugly if they don't come get that thing soon.

One Car Wednesday (a day late)

So I pedaled my bike to work today. By the way, thanks for the bike, Paul!
Not sure how far it is, but it took my a little over 30 minutes. That's like 25 miles, right?
And while Illinois appears to be quite flat, it turns out that it is uphill the entire way here. That may prove to be the case on the way home as well.

On a side note, the city is busy putting up the PortaPotties around town in anticipation of this weekend's Illinois Marathon. Take my advice and avoid the ones at the corner of Church and State. It's right across the street from my office window. The city worker spent a good deal of time inside one of them being sure it was in good working order.

I wish they were already setting up the refreshment stations for the race. I could use the help on my way home today.

A possible perk to global warming...

I certainly am not one to joke about global warming. Though the snow this past Sunday certainly didn't feel like there was much warming going on. Still, I was fascinated to discover that fluctuations in temperature are most likely to have both positive and negative effects on quality of life in various parts of our planet. It's all a matter of adjustment and perspective.

As an example,the winter of 1956/57 was unusually mild. Temperatures around the globe were substantially higher than normal. While this resulted in droughts in some parts of the country, it had a remarkable effect on agriculture in Switzerland.

See this video to learn more.

A quote from Deliberate Simplicity by Dave Browning.

Dave was leading an organizational meeting in a community where his church was considering planting a church when the following happened...

After sharing with the group our commitment to reach out to lost people, a well-meaning woman raised her hand and asked, "Isn't the church for those of us who are believers?" A hush fell over the room as everyone awaited my response...Little did she know she was surfacing one of the most defining precepts of [our church strategy]. The clarity of my response probably startled her. I said, "NO, the church is not FOR us. The church IS us, but it's not FOR us. We are here for the lost."

That's the business we are in.

Spring is in the air...

A poem in honor of spring...

Trees are budding
Flowers blooming
Grass is turning green.

We took the plastic
off our windows.
It is almost Spring.

I opened up
the sliding door
to let the Spring air in

And now my cheeks
have frostbite.
Its snowing once again.

Gotta love the Mid-west winters. I guess this is better than last year when it snowed on Easter Sunday. But man, those are some big honkin snow flakes falling out there.

See ya'll at church, though. Right? Right? Anyone?? Bueller?

ONE CAR WEDNESDAY...

Thought I would dedicate Wednesdays to updating the One car experiment.
This might be the only edition of One Car Wednesday. We'll see.

Rode a bicycle to Barkstall on Sunday morning. It's about 3 miles. I got about a quarter mile away from our house and started cramping. I couldn't breath at the 1/2 mile point. Couldn't see straight at 1 mile. So i stopped at Espresso Royale and got a coffee. Then I biked the last mile or so holding a cup of hot coffee. Somehow, the challenge of holding the cup and the handle bar at the same time took my mind of the agonizing pain in my legs and my lungs. I had to get the custodian to help me off the bike. Thanks Tracy.

Somehow, riding back home was easier. Must have been downhill. Hard to tell here in Illinois.

An unanticipated side benefit of having one car: My wife and I communicate better. Well at least we talk more! Its' either that or whoever wakes up earliest gets the car for the day. But we both prefer sleeping in. So we're actually planning out what we're doing with our days.

Cultural Reality Check

I think we Christians tend to turn a blind eye to the reality of how American culture has changed around us. We just don't want to recognize that the church no longer has the primary seat of honor within the larger culture.

Out west somewhere, a poll was conducted that asked people a simple question: "WHAT DO CHRISTIANS DO?"

They received 2 primary answers:
1. They go to lots of meetings
2. They are against things.

Great. We Christians have managed to communicate the message of Christ, an amazing message of peace and hope, forgiveness and wholeness, purpose and meaning, in such a way that those outside the church think those 2 things are what we do.

Now obviously cultural change is happening at different rates in different parts of America. Don't write off the above poll because it happened in San Francisco. There are some wonderful churches in San Francisco. Besides, I would bet my second car that you'd get just about the exact same response if you did that poll in the 4 or 5 blocks that surround our church here in Champaign.

The point is, we've spent so many generations focusing our church life (programs, budgets, staff, buildings, etc) on taking care of ourselves that the world around us has no clue what we do. Which also means they have no clue why Jesus matters. Because Jesus left it in our hands to show them and to tell them.

Time to rethink our relationship with our neighbor...

It's all LATIN to me...

So, way back in high school, my mom made me take Latin for my foreign language. I found it utterly annoying to have to study a language that nobody speaks anymore.

How ironic on Sunday to find myself talking about 2 Latin phrases.
Mom...I owe you an apology! Thanks for making me take Latin.

In case you missed it, here's a recap:
Missio Dei
This phrase is sually translated "the mission of God". In fact, I've used it that way before in a sermon. But I recently heard a pastor say that we ought to use that phrase in a different way. Instead of referring to something that God does, it is more about the very nature and character of God
Missio Dei means "the MISSIONING GOD" or "the GOD of MISSION".
We cannot adequately understand God unless we understand God through the paradigm of MISSION.

To fully get the picture though - we should probably define the word "mission". To understand that word, we looked at the parable of the lost sheep. Jesus tells the story about a shepherd who has 100 sheep, but he loses one. The shepherd leaves the 99 and goes in search of the 1. He leaves behind the "found" to go seek out the "lost". Jesus summarizes the parable by saying there is more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over 99 who do not need to repent.

This parable is all about the MISSIO DEI. It fleshes out the MISSIONAL heart of God. God is on a mission and that mission is the passionate pursuit of the one who is lost. This parable is right in the middle of the Gospel of Luke. It's almost as if Luke is saying that the very heart of THE gospel is our GOD chasing after the one who has wandered away. That's what God is like. That's what God is all about. That's what God is doing. Then and now.

Now, lets jump ahead to Jesus after his resurrection. Jesus appears to his disciples who are hiding behind locked doors and he says this to them: "As the Father has sent me, I also send you."

I also send you.

He sends us.

To do what? MISSIO DEI
To join God in chasing after the one(s) who have wandered away.

That's what God is like.
That's what God is all about.
That's what God is doing.

That's what we are here to do.

"As the Father has sent me, I also send you."

OK, I really missed the coffee...

that's all.

World Water Day

Sunday is World Water Day.

As I write this I'm sitting at a coffee shop drinking a great big coffee made with about a cup and a half of water. And I'm thinking that what's in my cup looks alot like the water that people all over the world drink. Only mine is that color thanks to coffee grinds and milk. Their water is that color because of mud and algae.

The lack of clean water results in the deaths of millions of kids every year. And it is a totally solvable problem.

And we are committed to tackling the problem.
In the village of Lisanjala in Malawi, we are providing the funding for clean water wells that will give people access to disease free water that will save lives...in the name of Jesus.

So, in honor of World Water Day, we're going to try to appreciate what we've got and care for thsoe who don't have it.

Instead of serving COFFEE on Sunday, we're just going to serve WATER. So if you're one of those who really needs caffeine just to be out in public, you may want to caffeinate before you arrive. We'll have a donation bowl on the WATER table where you can contribute to our Meet Malawi project that will be digging wells in Lisanjala. But mostly, I hope you'll just enjoy a nice cold cup of water and be reminded of how God has blessed us...and how he is calling us to be a blessing to others.

Peace.

Curtis Road Update

Looks like Curtis Rd will be open between Mattis and Duncan.
You can definitely access Barkstall from Duncan and I am fairly sure you can get there from Mattis.

So, you can't use road closure as an excuse for missing church!!!!

A little less CAR

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the One Car experiment in the Keeble home.

We are turning in our Honda (which was a lease). It was a good car. It rolled with me through the Hyper-miling experiment and got 40 miles to the gallon in the process.

But as of tomorrow, we are going to be a one car family.
"gasp..." I know, it's almost un-American.

I know its going to be a big pain in the rear. But I'm actually really quite excited about it. I'll be carpooling when I can. I'll be feeling my way around on MTD. I'm really hoping to do alot of biking. And I might even walk a bit more.

One thing I'm particularly excited about: Being less secluded from my community. Its so easy to just seclude ourselves at home, then do the same at work. We drive in between but are totally disconnected from our surroundings in all that "in between" space. I think the One Car Experiment is gonna help me be more connected to my community. We'll see.

I'll keep you posted. I'm thinking Wednesdays on the blog will be One Car Wednesdays with weekly updates.

PS. Feel free to call and offer a ride. It doesn't matter where you are going. Just take me with you.

Church Resources...

I heard a speaker say recently that the church has 6 types of resources:
Prayer
Money
People
Facilities
Time
Technology

If our church is going to successfully move towards being an externally focused church, each of those types of resources would need to be weighted externally.

So...as an example, what does it look like for our facility to be at least 50% used externally?
Or what if at least 50% of our prayers were focused on things outside ourselves?

Ideas?

Thoughts?

If you show up tomorrow an hour late...

we'll all know you forgot to set your clocks ahead tonight!

Bless you...it's not just for sneezes anymore

We are "the blessing people."
At the heart of our identity as followers of Christ is our calling to bless people.
It is an ancient calling that started when God told Abraham he would be blessed in order to BE A BLESSING.

On Sunday we told several stories of "blessing". My challenge to you was to go through your day looking for opportunities to be interrupted; opportunities to step away from our agendas and our schedules and be available for people; opportunities to look people in the eye and bless them.

Definitely hard to do. Downright scary for alot of us. Especially when you think they might look at you like this. So we shared a few ideas: When you are at a restaurant or coffee shop or hardware store (really anytime you are in a place where someone is serving you) take the time to thank that person and ask a very simple question: "How can I ask God to bless you today?"



Well, here's how you can bless me. Try it!
And as you try it, share your stories with our online community.
* How are you finding ways to bless people?
* What happened when you asked God to give you a holy interruption?
* How can we pray for you or the people you are trying to bless?

To share your stories here, just click on the word "comments" below this post and type away. Its fine to choose the anonymous option to sign in, but it would be awesome if you typed your name in on your comment. You can also email me as well.

Look forward to reading your stories.

More local music...

After a wildly popular local debut at Huber's last month, Say it With a Smile (Jaron and Katherine's band) will be playing again tonight! They are playing a house party (at their own house!!!)

Music starts at 7pm.

If you were one of the crowd who came out to watch them at Huber's, you know this is gonna rock. In addition to all your favorite Say it with a Smile tunes, you'll also get the chance to hear some music from another visiting musician.

Giving it up...

So Lent starts today. I've never been a big fan of giving things up for Lent. (Also never really got into making new year's resolutions). Most years I just decide to give up giving anything up.

But this year, I'm giving it a shot. I'm giving up chocolate and candy. (I hesitate to tell ya'll because I can just imagine a dozen boxes of chocolate showing up at the office tomorrow).

Here's the thing though: the reason for giving something up for Lent is to help us connect with Jesus. The 40 days are Lent are meant to be a time that reminds us of what Jesus gave up for us. And he gave up everything. So I guess if we really get Lent, it's not about giving something up. Its about GETTING something. Its about a getting a deeper connected with Christ.

So...two questions:
1. What are you giving up?
2. How are you "getting" Jesus more?

which way do you swim?

Even a dead thing can go with the stream.
But only a living thing can go against it.

G.K.Chesterton


What does this quote say to you?

To Hiroshima with love...

Tim and Debra Larson are leading one of our new sermon based small groups.
Each of our small groups are trying to identify a way to get involved together in serving our community.

The Larson's group came up with a fantastic idea. They decided to try to make a difference by offering their support to Barkstall School, where the Launch meets. The good folks at Barstall took them up on their offer and asked them to help string together a thousand peace cranes which had been folded by the students of Barkstall school. The strings of cranes are being sent to Hiroshima, Japan.

Below is a picture of the finished product!

Click here if you want to know more about the project the Larson's small group is helping with:
Hiroshima Cranes

Sarah's video interview...

You can hear Sarah's interview if you click on the sermon mp3 for last Sunday on the right side bar. We didn't record the video, but you can listen in. It's about 10 minutes into the sermon.

A skype load of awesomeness

In case you missed it on Sunday, we did a live video interview with Sarah (Wackerlin) Spiker during the sermon. Sarah shared a little bit of her incredibly relevant personal story about giving her life to Jesus just a few years ago. After growing up very active in our church, working here with the youth group, and even going to seminary, Sarah finally hit a point of realizing that even though she believed all the right things about Jesus, she remained Lord of her own life. So Sarah gave her life to Jesus. Her whole life.

In the sermon we talked about the difference between believing the right things ABOUT Jesus and giving your life TO Jesus. What a profound difference. To call Jesus our Lord is to acknowledge that our lives are not our own; they are God's. It is to say that even though I know quite clearly what I want, Jesus knows completely what I really need.

In many ways, the struggle to really and truly give our lives away to God is the ongoing task of discipleship. We don't ever learn for learning sake. We learn in order to better know ourselves, better know God, and better yield ourselves to God.

And that is especially hard for us independent, hard working, pull yourself up by your own boot straps, kind of people. Giving up control is never easy.

But it gets easier the more we keep our eyes on Jesus.

I'd love to hear any stories or reflections on how God is challenging you in the process of giving your life to him.

A shift in focus

For sometime now, this blog has been sort of waffling between (on the one hand) things that particularly relate to our life together as a community of faith at the Launch and (on the other hand) broader reflections on life, culture, entertainment, etc.

It has become apparent that the Launch community would benefit from a blog with a more specific focus regarding our life together. At the same time, its also clear that I need an alternate outlet for me rambling thoughts about life in general.

So from here on, this blog will be the place where we I'll really focus on church stuff. You'll see posts on our vision, our goals, our strategies. Sermons will continue to be posted here. Links and such will focus on our church partnerships. Small Group stuff will soon be available on here. Things like that.

And I'll be creating a different blog to contain some of my larger thinking and conversation regarding all the other stuff I find myself talking about.

Hope that will help you know if you want to keep reading or not!!!