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!