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?