Legacy

Swine Flu Servant Evangelism

Here is an idea for churches who are trying to be aggressively subtle and yet proactive in their evangelism endeavors.  With the heightened awareness (and for some people, deadly fear) that swine flu is causing, here is a face mask that you can pass out at your local supermarkets and large crowd gatherings.  People will be relieved to wear it, and at the same time, will be thinking about where they will go after their last breath. 

So put the bottled water back in the storage rooms, and pick up the phone.  Give your local swine flu custom respiratory mask dealer a call.  I'm sure you can save money if you order in bulk.

Story of Redemption

Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers has an incredible testimony of how God rescued his life from drug and alcohol addiction and restored his marriage. His new book, BEYOND BELIEF details the events that led up to the derailment and his journey of redemption back home. This video was produced by the guys at I Am Second.

Back in the Big D

Evie and I are in Dallas for a Master's Commission conference.  Last night we hooked up with some old friends from our college days, Rob and Annalise Saenz.  Rob was one of my college room-mates, and they are pastors in Waxahachie, TX.  We ended up staying out until 3:00 AM just like we were still in college.  We are paying for it today, but the experience was priceless.  It's great being with friends where you can just be yourself and have a great time!

Clean Water for Africa

One of the goals our youth ministry set out to accomplish this year was to do something about extreme poverty.  This past Sunday some of our students had signs and buckets out in the church foyer asking people to give a dollar for Blood:Water Mission, an organization started by the lead singer of Jars of Clay, Dan Haseltine.

Blood:Water Mission digs wells for Africans to have access to clean water.  Their slogan is "$1 provides one African with clean water for one year.  Our students raised over $440 for them on Sunday.  I'm very proud of our students and what they are doing to make poverty history!

My Last Lock-In

We are in the midst of an incredible series called, "Hope Lives" where we are taking a first-hand look at poverty and what we can do to eradicate extreme poverty.  For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to do a "Displace Me" like lock-in, where we "sleep" in card board boxes to give the students a taste of what it's like to live in poverty. 

This past Friday night we had my last lock-in.  We ate nothing but rice and beans and could only drink water from a well  (cooler with purified water).  We watched a documentary called God Grew Tired of Us, that I highly recommend for all to watch.  We also had a time of worship and prayer. 

The majority of the students did great in every activity until it was time to sleep.  As a good student pastor, I separated the girls from the guys around midnight, but the boys did not sleep!  It is a challenge for all teenage boys to stay awake for the entire lock-in with pain and humiliation to anyone (youth pastor included) who falls asleep. 

I found it funny that youth leaders avoided me like the plague the week of the lock-in (I don't blame them at all), and I'm oh so appreciate and owe my life to Stephanie, Samantha, Amanda, Todd, Cindy and Kathy for all their work!

I said all of that to say that I am through with lock-ins.  I am not too proud to say that I am way too old to stay up all night.  So long, lock-ins!  I won't miss you in the least bit.

The Super Bowl Commercial that Wasn't

I watched this commercial on my brother-in-law's blog (Jeff Leake).  NBC deemed the add too political and refused to show it during the Super Bowl.  Here it is:

Dare 2 Share Conference

This past weekend, I took our student leaders to a Dare 2 Share conference in Columbus, OH.  Despite the freezing temperatures (-10 windchill) the conference was informative, convicting and encouraging for our leadership team. 

I found it interesting that at the convention center, where the conference was being held, there was a very large anime convention and there was also a cheerleading competition in the same building.  The anime convention was quite interesting because they dressed up as their favorite character. 

So let me paint you the picture.  You had thousands of anime fans in costume, several hundred cheerleaders and their adoring parents and coaches, and about 6 thousand Christian teenagers converging at once.  I'm sure the anime fans thought, "Oh great!  I come all the way to Columbus to escape these groups and here they are...thousands of them!" 

But let me tell you what I observed.  The majority of the cheerleaders and their parents were laughing at the anime fans, rolling their eyes, looking at them with disdain, and some were even making rude comments in ear shot of the anime fans.  But the majority of the Christians were stopping to talk to the anime crowd and engaging in conversations with them.

Greg Stier, the leader of Dare 2 Share, read a letter to the youth pastors that one of the anime fans gave him.  This young man from Detroit told him in the letter that he was at the anime convention and received a phone call that one of his best friends had committed suicide the night before back home in Detroit.  As he was visibly upset in the convention center lobby, someone from the Dare 2 Share conference began to talk with him, consoling him.  This young Christian man took the anime fan out to eat and let the guy just talk and get things out.  At the end of the day the Christian had shared his faith with the anime fan and led him to Christ!

It's so easy easy to allow stereotypes shape what we think of people, but I was so glad to observe this weekend, at least at this conference, Christians were sharing their faith not only with their words but with their life.

Goals: The Big 9 for ‘09

Last year I had set 16 goals for 2008.  You can look at how I did here.  Some of my goals were abstract and hard to evaluate.  My aim for this year was two-fold:  (1) Make sure my goals were concrete enough to measure progress and success (2) Make the goals memorable and easier to remember.  I decided to pick nine goals to go with the year, ’09.  I’m calling them, “The Big 9 for ’09.” 

As you look over them, you can see how each one can be easily measured.  For example, at the end of the week, if I haven’t spent one on one/face to face time with Luke, I have not met that goal for that week.  If we get Legacy Master’s Commission started in September, I’ve met that goal.

I post my goals simply so you can hold me accountable.  Feel free to ask me how I’m doing on my goals. Take a look at them and let me know what you think:

1.  Take Evie on a date at least once a month.

2. Spend one on one/face to face time with Alexa at least once a week (A Date w/ my daughter).

3. Spend one on one/face to face time with Luke at least once a week (Guy Time w/ my son).

4.  Read at least 35 books (Last year my goal was 25, and I read 26).

5. Complete my credentials with the A/G (Um, I did not come close to reaching this last year).

6. Increase Speed The Light giving to over $28,000 for the year (last year the goal was $10,000 and we hit $14,000).

7. Start Legacy Master’s Commission at Christ's Chapel in September of ’09.

8.  Begin implementing milestone’s 4, 5, 6, and 7 of the Legacy Milestones in our church.

9.  Complete Sozo training. 

Who Is My Neighbor?

Last Wednesday in the student service, we continued our series, Hope Lives.  In this series we are taking a first hand look at poverty and what we can do to end extreme poverty. 

We looked at the two greatest commandments Jesus gave, (1) Love the Lord with all your heart and (2) Love your neighbor as yourself.  The question that was asked for the night was, "Who is my Neighbor?" 

When Jesus gave the two greatest commandments, he was asked this question, and his answer was a story, "The Good Samaritan."  In this story a Jewish man was robbed, beaten, and left for dead on the side of the road.  A priest and a Levite passed him by without offering assistance, but a Samaritan, whom the Jews despised, stopped and not only assisted him, but put him on his donkey, carried him to an inn, took care of him overnight, and payed the inn keeper to keep him there until he was restored to health. 

So, to answer the question, "who is my neighbor?", Jesus' answer was whoever is in need that crosses our path. 

I challenged the students to open their eyes throughout the week and find one person in need that crossed their path, and do one kind thing for them to help meet their need.

If you live in the Northern KY/Greater Cincinnati Area today is a perfect day to meet a need!  If you look around your street you will find a driveway that needs shoveling.  Perhaps it is an elderly person, or someone with a disability.  It could be a woman whose husband had to go to work and won't get home until later.  It is a simple way of meeting the need of a neighbor and showing them the love of Christ in a practical way. 

If you do venture out to shovel a neighbor's driveway, they may offer you money.  I challenge you to kindly refuse their offer.  Tell them it is an honor to shovel their driveway, or suggest that they give that money to their favorite charity or to their church. 

If they offer you homemade brownies...well now that is a different story!

Do You Know Your Neighbors?

I read a heartbreaking article this morning about an eight year old boy who spent 10 days with his dead mother, Gaynell Tipado, before the authorities or anyone, for that matter, found out.  The family moved to Romulus, Michigan after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  The boy was home-schooled, has no siblings and his father died several years ago, authorities said. The child is in foster care while police try to locate his other relatives.

This article has me asking myself, how well do I know my neighbors?  Could this happen where I live on my street?  How well do you know your neighbors?  I'm sure the cold weather played a factor in taking so long for anyone to find out Mrs. Tipada had died, but it is still sad that it took so long.

I am recalling what Jesus said when a man asked him, "Who is my neighbor?"  Jesus responded to the man's question by telling the story of The Good Samaritan. 

How wrapped up in our daily lives are we?  Are we looking out for our neighbors and showing them the love of Christ like the Good Samaritan, or are we so busy that we pass by and not even notice what is going on around us like the priest and the levite?