TMI Mustard Seed summary

Background
Teen Missions International has been in the business of preparing and sending students on summer mission trips all over the world since 1970. Based in Merritt Island Florida, students participate in a boot camp prior to leaving the country. This summer TMI sent out 1307 students with 294 team leaders.
In the summer of 2004, TMI started a 4-6 year old program focused on the basic message of salvation and hearing from missionaries from other countries. Having always been intrigued about TMI and thinking it would be really fun for my 6 year old daughter, we signed up.
Mustard Seed Boot Camp lasted 4 days and 3 nights and was co-located with other Boot Camps happening at the same time on Merritt Island. With the addition of the 4-6 year old program, TMI now has something for kids from 4 years old to high school. Mustard Seed is from 4-6 years old, with one or both parents attending. Peanuts is from 7-9 and is a week long, with no parents. PreTeen is from 10-13 and then the Teen program is above that from 14-21.

Leaders
There were four leaders for Mustard Seeds. Kathy was the overall director and Mustard Seeds was her vision. She also serves as the co-director of TMI overall. She brought her sister Barbara in to do music. Linda was a lady from the Finance department that was the leader of the 'Green' team. Cindy was the leader of the 'Red' team and was on a furlough of sorts from two years in Zambia. Her family (husband, two teenage sons and her) had spent two years doing AIDS Orphans Rescue in Zambia at the TMI base there. They had come back
to the States in April, met contacts to raise additional funds and were getting ready to lead a Zambia team through Boot Camp and taking them back to Zambia with them. At the end of the summer, the students would come back home, leaving Cindy and her husband there. (They are leaving their teenagers home this time)
By far, having a leader who had done cross cultural missions was a major advantage.

Schedule/Program
The schedule looked something like this:
06.30 - wake up (yeah...)
07.00 - breakfast
08.00 - program time
09.00 - the Obstacle Course (they had a mini one for the little kids)
10.00 - snack/craft
11.00 - program time
12.00 - cleanup
12.30 - lunch
01.30 - quiet time - on a big mat in the center of our program area, with everyone
02.30 - program time
04.00 - swim time - definitely the best time of the day
05.00 - cleanup
06.00 - dinner
07.00 - evening rally
08.00 - lights out

Program time consisted of a variety of things including music, missionary speakers and crafts. Music was done by one leader, most of the time teaching the kids new music from a CD and using hand motions. They really loved it. The music teacher also had an assortment of music instruments from different countries that she rotated among the kids. They loved that too.
TMI has a team called Missionaries to America, which is a group of young people that come to America for an extended period of time, do ministry here, go to Boot Camp and then return to their home countries. Mustard Seeds either heard from an individual MTA or a group of them a few times a day. Sometimes the MTAs would do a puppet show, music or a short talk.
Most of the program time centered on the colors of the wordless book. The kids learned memory verses for each color and then went off and did crafts based on the color and verse. Craft included a wooden cross with different things glued to it, putting together cloth swatches of the wordless book together (these were sent out with the high school teams when they went out) and other various crafts. The kids also decorated cookies that were used by Teen Missions for local ministry around the base, which included firehouses and nursing homes.

Participants
Two teams totaling about 25 Mustard Seeds and their parents.
11 families on our team from all over the country including Hawaii and California.
On our team:
7 homeschoolers
7 had prior TMI experiences
- 3 from siblings
- 4 from parents that had been team members/leaders
There were also two grandmothers that had come with their grandsons. They had lots of spunk.

Guidelines
Like its called Boot Camp is pretty tough. No shorts, no reading material other than the Bible, no electronic devices, no snacks, no electricity, no running water. You get a food tray and a bowl and a canteen and cup when you get there. At each meal, you walk up to the dining hall where they give you your food on your tray/bowl, you walk back to the area where you eat and when you are done, you go up to the washing area where you wash all that stuff. Washing entails 4 big bins in a line, the first one to rinse off particles of food, the second one to scrub with soap, the third to rinse off soap and the fourth one to sanitize. You are to eat all your food at every meal. There are outhouses and there are toilets and showers both with no running water. To go to the toilet, you pour a bucket of water down the bowl when you are finished. Used toilet paper goes into another bucket to be thrown away later. (I experienced similar bathroom conditions in the Dominican Republic in 1993). You could bucket shower as well. There was pool time every day as long as there were no thunderstorms. There was a 'rally' every evening, which was a worship and teaching time.
Older kids go through training during Boot Camp with both evangelistic skills such as sharing the Gospel, puppets, etc., as well as work project training such as bricklaying, pouring concrete, etc.

Does it Work?
I had the following questions going into the experience. First, does TMI work in getting kids to be mobilized for mission? Secondly, wouldnÂ?t we be growing kids better in having kids go through the experience with leaders that were connected to them via the local church and throughout the year? TMI does not allow local youth ministry leaders to come with their students. You can, of course, sign up to be a leader of a team. But coming along with a local ministry is not within their context. And finally, would you send your child back?
Since our team had 7 people that had previous TMI experiences, I did an informal survey with them. It was a good mix of people, from those that had been on teams in high school, those that had been on a team and came back as a leader, and those that had siblings go through TMI trips.
For the first question, I think the answer is yes, overall. I went in to the experience wondering how well Boot Camp prepared kids for mission. But I think the actual goal is to use Boot Camp for discipline. Getting kids excited for worldwide missions is probably more a function of the actual mission experience, after they leave Boot Camp. One of our parents who had led teams for 7 or 8 years talked about how a majority of her team members had gone on to be missionaries or in full time ministry. I donÂ?t believe that full time ministry is better than secular work, in fact, I think the compartmentalization is dangerous for the Church. However, I do believe that the observation shows a level of intentionality that is a healthy by product of people living a life on mission.
I spent a few minutes chatting with Bob Bland, the director and founder. I asked him to tell me the overall principle, after doing this for over 30 years. He stated to start something and stick to it. He also talked about I Cor 13 and the idea of putting away childish things when you become an adult. His take was that we all can decide when its time to grow up, and some people simply refuse to. Hopefully, Boot Camp is a time when people choose to grow.
For the second question, I got mixed responses. The big variable here is the local church. In some instances, parents had a great deal of mistrust towards their local church youth ministry. In that case, the question is really invalid. In other cases, parents could see the value in that kind of leadership. One parent did mention that releasing your child happens before you know it.
Thirdly, I would probably send my child back. If I sent my 6 year old back, it would be in a few years, like 8 or 9 for Peanuts. Also, I think 4 might be a little young for Mustard Seeds. We had some 4 year olds that just couldnÂ?t deal.
If a high schooler asked me what I thought of them going to TMI, I would encourage it, with the caveat that the year after, they come back and be a part of what their local church is doing for missions. I believe that we have to encourage kids to be in the context of what the local church is doing for missions whenever we can, because the local church is (or should be) the means by which the essential task gets done.

Mustard Seed - pictures

Here are three pictures...

Mustard Seed - short summary

Here is a short summary/prayer followup letter that I sent out.
I am working on a more in depth follow up that I will post later this week...
Thanks for praying...


Hi All,

Thanks so much for praying for K and I for the past few days while we were at Boot Camp with Teen Missions. To give you a little background, Teen Missions has been in operation for about 30 years preparing and sending hundreds of high school students all over the world on missions trips every summer. I've been intrigued about it for a little while and when they offered a 4-6 year old program for the first time this summer,we thought we would go to experience it first hand.

Boot Camp pretty much describes it - no running water, no electricty,hot Florida heat, sleeping in tents, and mosquitos all the time (160 bites between the two of us). It was definitely a rough time for both of us, but we made it through. In the meantime, K had fun hearing from missionaries from other countries, making lots of crafts about sharing the Gospel story, and doing typical camp stuff, like pool time, story time
and evening 'rallys'.

It's a hard thing to put your child through some suffering deliberately. Most of the
time, K handled it well enough. But there were certainly times when the bugs, the heat, the Boot Camp rules, and the lack of sleep got to her, as it did with most of the kids there.

Needless to say, those things got to me too.

My hope is that as we both process through this experience, it would make us more compassionate towards the world, less tied to our material possessions and more eager to share Christ with those that don't know Him.

Once again, thanks for thinking and praying for us. We know that your prayers were vital to our experience there.
Love,
tony and k

Back

I'm back from Boot Camp... Count on loads more to tell in a few days... LOADS...

Boot Camp until 6/22

Well readers... I will be on hiatus while I attend Mustard Seeds Boot Camp with K. I'm sure I'll have some pretty entertaining stories to tell when I get back. Until then...

Mission Mondays 6/14

Just Bob has started an idea called Mission Mondays where he posts about missions, on Mondays... Get it? Cool idea. Here is the first conversation.

Talk on Mission

Well in my spare time, I put together a quick talk about mission.
It's sort of getting some thoughts together for a sendoff kind of thing for the summer trips, I don't know if I will get the opportunity to really use it or not.
But I like doing this kind of thing.
I love to speak to students when I can, when it's the right venue and all. When someone asks you to speak, its a funny dynamic. Suddenly, you have total freedom to say what you want, and someone wants you to be able to do that. They've given you liberty to say what you want. It's funny like that.
Anyway, here are my very rough notes.

====
you are on mission
every person

the Bible is a cohesive picture of people on mission
the overall theme is consistent, people called into a bigger purpose
than themselves

1 Gen 12 -
your blessings are unique
God has designed you for a specific purpose

2 Acts 17
Paul was distressed by the idols in the city
Do we get distressed like that?
Do we greieve for our friends?

story - TP
are we distressed by how our friends live?

3 Matt28
God calls you
to make disciples
to make people thirst for God
teach them to walk with Him
its about knowing God's book, and hearing His voice

SPACE has got some momentum
I don't know if what we are doing is right or not
If we will be succsssful or not
But I believe this is accordign to the heart of God
He wants us to care for the poor
To engage our community
To so love the people that live here, that we strive to make a difference

Darwin awards - rocket
Do we generate skid marks?
Are we moving with God with that much energy and momentum?
Are you bored with your life?

Food fight - Glenn was on a specific purpose and mission
Are we on mission like that?

====

or something like that...

Sharing the Vision

Every few months, I drop in on the Missions Task Force at GCC. Most of the time, it's to update them on what is happening on the student side of the Body. It is usually a pretty fun time for me, as I get a few minutes to talk about SPACE and everyone there is really intersted. It's cool.
I went last night to give them an update, and thought, lucky blog reader, that you might like to see it too.
So here it is.
All in all, its kind of a God given dream and vision come true...

===

GCC Youth Ministries
SPACE summer missions

Trip Breakouts:
Light Company – 6th – 8th graders:
Service based weekend working at CMTS.
Car washing/detailing, general landscaping, cleaning projects.
Break the stereotype of a missionary.
6 students/6 leaders
Approx cost - $0

10th Grade
Center for Student Missions, Washington DC.
Immersion into the inner city while working with indigenous local ministries in Washington DC.
10 students/4 leaders
$5600

SPACEcrew (SPACE leader kids)
Urban Impact, NYC
Working with ministry focused on unreached people groups in NYC.
7 students/2 leaders
$3150

Support:
Total budget – approx $8750
Raised to date - $8893
163 financial and prayer partners

Team Preps:
- worship is the goal of missions
- developing a personal testimony
- team work – Myers Briggs Personality Test, the Hardy Personality
- team work – team initiatives
- culture – 3 speakers from GCC who lived in different cultures

Various Other Youth Min trips:
CS – LC leader – the Inner City Experience, the Dream Center, Tampa, FL – middle school inner city ministry
TC – CpR Leader – Ukraine, Mission to the World

Next Steps:
Sendoff – LC/CpR – 7/11
Prayer Cards
Mission Teams Party – 8/22

Harry Potter and your worldview

Marsh has a great post here about how he feels about Harry Potter and his kids' worldview. It resonates with me.

Mustard Seed Playlist

Like all 6 year olds, K is getting big into music. She wants her own CD walkman and the other day her grandparents took her shopping and they bought her a CD, her first CD that she has ever picked out... Scary....
It's scary because I think music has a profound influence on our culture. And at the age of 6, I think we as parents have to be super careful.
For Mustard Seeds, we are going to bring an MP3 player for the plane ride. And I got a double headphone jack. And, of course, I picked out our music. It's going to be fun to be able to listen to the same music...
Here are some of the tracks:

Ashton, Becker, Dente - Angels
Ashton, Becker, Dente - Song of Reconciliation
Ashton, Becker, Dente - No Other
Chris Tomlin - Enough
Chris Tomlin - Not to Us
FFH - Fly Away
Hillsongs - Angels
Hillsongs - Glory
Hillsongs Kids - Every Move I Make
Mosaic - Closer Than Breathing
Mosaic - If I Step
Mosaic - No One Above You
Mosaic - What You See
Mosaic - Invisible
Mosaic - I Live For You
Mosaic - Nothing is Better
Chris Tomlin / Crowder, David Band / Hall, Charlie Band - Famous One
Crowder, David Band / Hall, Charlie Band / Tomlin, Chris Band - Prepare the Way
Rebecca St James - Lamb of God
Rebecca St James - Blessed Be Your Name
Steven Curtis Chapman - Live Out Loud
Steven Curtis Chapman - Jesus Is Life
Steven Curtis Chapman - Magnificent Obsession
Third Day - Come Together
Bebo Norman / Caedmons Call / City On A Hill / Sing Alleluia - Holy Is Your Name
Newsboys - Joy
dc Talk - Between You and Me
dc Talk - Colored People
Keith Green - You are the One

PS - Funny thing, K is a huge Keith Green fan....

High Impact Leader

Spent a little time poking around Christian Associates which is the mission agency the McNs are going to Italy with. They are seeking high impact leaders to plant high impact churches all throughout Europe. Here is their definition of a high impact leader:
* pursue a vital relationship with God over their lifetimes
* maintain a learning posture in all areas of life
* seek a biblical perspective on life and leadership
* cultivate personal integrity and authenticity
* develop healthy relationships with family, co-workers, and the community
* pursue their life purpose and calling
* develop dynamic mentoring relationships
* discover and develop their own giftedness as well as giftedness in others
How do you rate? Is there a low impact leader, and what would that look like?

Laying Hands

This morning I got to be a part of the Mission Task Force/Elder team that prayed for and laid hands on the McNs. They leave Tuesday for Florence, Italy. It was an honor to be a part of that.

What I'm going to do about Origins

finally...
rough thoughts after a few weeks of processing thoughts and ideas from Origins...
and listening to some of McManus' messages...


Principle-Relevance to the culture is not optional
*-Shengs will engage culture via active watching of movies
*-we will have a line item in family budget for culture (movies, entertain, music, etc.)
*-SPACEcrew meetings might evolve from just launch planning to including ideas and concepts about being active in mission (this is hard to articulate)

Principle-every NT church had heresy and immorality because they had prebelievers involved in community
*-we will articulate that friends of students have an open invitation to every Launch

Principle-Mission is why the church exists
*-how many students can we get involved in Launches and Mission trips?
can we shoot for 50% within 3 years of starting SPACe?

Principle-Faith and safety are closer tied today than faith and risk.
If you have faith, you will be successful -> false principle.

*-what things are we attempting that can only fail unless God accomplishes (God accomplishes relationships, tasks, thoughts - SPACE involves relationships of people, getting tasks done, acting upon thoughts)
*-can we attempt things that can only fail unless God accomplishes them?

Principle-We need to live lives that are active in listening for God's voice and call.
*-are we spending time in God's word and listening for His audible voice?
Not only the leaders, but the people/students we lead.
Does the worldview we teach to students include this aspect of spiritual growth?

I'm not sure I'm totally done with this, but I think its a good start...

Hair

My hair up until Saturday the 12th at around 2pm...

Who is the most important?

So at the K graduation, all the kids got their final books that they wrote. Volunteers in their classes typed their stories up, typeset them and bound them just like real books. It was cool. On the backpage, it had an About the Authors page.
One of the families we have gotten to know this year live in our neighborhood and work full time for the Church of God. They had pastored two churches previously and are now area directors for the denomination. They have two kids in Kindergarten, and one of them wrote, On his Authors page:
- S wants to be a pastor when he grows up.
- Jesus is the most important person in his family.
Wow. Those are quite the statements.

#1 finishing K

Well our first born graduated from Kindergarten today. I was in tears. Just kidding. Graduation was certainly easier than putting her on the school bus at the beginning of the year though... Anyway, it was fun... life moves on... your kids and my kids grow up... Jesus help us to take hold of the kingdom forcefully...

Processional

Some photos from DJ who was there in person. Some of the images are just stunning. Here.

Real

I got together with one of my 03 dteam guys tonight, T. I've written a bit about him before. Tonight as I was driving out to meet him, I just prayed that God would use me, that God would give me the right words, that we would just have a real conversation about life, and stop just playing with nice conversation. I think that part of my prayer was really answered.
We talked a lot about the existence of God, whether the Bible is true or not, how God can't or should be able to do something outside the realm of his nature. Most of it made me a little frustrated. But that's ok. I appreciated the dialogue.
What I don't appreciate, what I am incensed about, what keeps me up at night when I let it, is that his parents have gained the whole world, literally, and have lost their son's soul.

Erwin MP3s

Found two messages Erwin recently gave. Very good. Listen/download here.

K back from Kstan

K hung out with our fam last night for a few hours, telling loads and loads of stories about Kstan. Definitely a great experience, propelling him even more into missions. Very cool.
So many stories... He said the most interesting was probably hearing a believer in one of the villages give the Bridge illustration, but one that was slightly changed to be specific for Muslims. Really brought out some intersting things for K to process regarding the Contextualization Scale... And, believe me, I've got lots of questions about it too. But I think it's good for him to be thinking about that. More about the C-scale here.
K also mentioned:
- the trip made him see that the world is pretty big. the idea that Americans have this inherent right - to be happy, to be wealthy, to be comfortable - really annoys him.
- what is the core of the Gospel in the New Testament? because we (the Church) disagree about a lot of other stuff that doesn't really matter.
It was great to hear all the stories and see all the pictures. I didn't want him to be overwhelmed with our questions, but yet I wanted him to be able to share all that he wanted to. Sometimes, people come home and they get frustrated because their friends and family here only want to listen for a short time, when they have absolutely tons to share.
K gave me the questions that his team leader gave them for debriefing too. I don't know if I've mentioned it here before, but debriefing is always key. So I grab as much as I can from people who have debriefed or done debriefings, especially for cross cultural ministry. I've got probably about 10-12 different documents with questions, studies on specific passages, activities, etc.
K brought me back a miniature dutar, which looks like this -
He also brought me a set of muslim prayer beads. 33 beads, and when they pray through them 3 times, they have covered the 99 gods. I asked him if it was safe to bring into my house and at one point, D put them on her Bible and said, "I probably shouldn't put them on my Bible..."

Safe in DC

As you might imagine, DC is abuzz with the preparations for the state funeral for President Reagan, the first in over 30 years. There are tons of preparations going on around town between the arrival at Andrews Air Force Base, to the coffin at the Capitol for the public to walk by, to the ceremony at the National Cathedral. The news is saying that this is akin to the 9/11 memorial service that was held at the Cathedral. The anticipation even drifts out to the Beltway, where major delays are expected as the casket travels from arrival to the city.
I grew up right outside of DC and have lived here my whole life. One of the great things about DC is that there is so much to do and all the good stuff is free. The Smithsonian, which all the museums are part of, is all free. Yup, everything, including the National Zoo. So living so close, we hardly ever take advantage of it.
On the flip side, because DC is the capital, in our post 9/11 world, there is always an undercurrent of "what if?" I remember a good friend telling me that there were snipers on the rooftops of the Senate and House buildings when he worked there during the first Gulf War. Along the same lines, we always think twice before we go downtown these days, just for the safety aspect. Is there a big event? Lots of tourists going to be there? If so, we usually pass. DC is an awesome city, but if there is lots going on, it might be better to skip. After all, that is the safe thing to do.
On the flip side, like what they said at Origins, we will continue to live in an increasingly violent world. No doubt about it, terror alerts are now a fact of life. In the US, we should get used to it, like other parts of the world have been used to it. Like what Alex McManus said, "We have grown to believe that God’s kingdom is not about life and death."
(If you haven't noticed, I've been thinking about this 'safe' issue a bit lately.)
Below is a very well done graphic about Reagan's funeral. Linked from washingtonpost.com. You might need to login (free registration).

UPDATED:
took the graphic out and put a link in instead. easier to read that way...
graphic here

Mustard Seed

wow, almost less than a week away.
pray for me....

Dedication Sunday

You ever have one of those Sundays where you feel so priviledged to be a part of something? Where you have been given some insight, a special view into what God wants a family to look like? Where a community laughs hysterically together at some ridiculous line and a few minutes later weeps together for something lost that will be found later? Yesterday was it for me, in 3rd service at GCC.
A recap here won't even come close to being fair, but I'll try anyway:
- our middle school pastor coming in dressed as a knight with a youthworker behind him knocking coconuts together (just like in a Monty Python movie)
- the overall child dedication service where:
* one of the parents was reciting a passage she had memorized but forgot the last half.. she gave the mike to her husband, who said, "She did really well in bed last night..." of course, the whole room was laughing hysterically. he came back and said, "hey people, this is church, get your minds out of the gutter.."
I looked at PM back in the sound booth, he was cracking UP
* another dad choked back tears talking about his kids
* another dad up front, with his mother and mother in law, dedicating his daughter, who was 6 months old. his wife had passed away in april. at the end of his time, he read a letter his wife had written their daughter. not many dry eyes after that.
* the reading that we do at Grace during child dedication services, about our commitment to these families as His Body.
- hearing PM speak about Jesus and his interactions with kids - from Mat 18
It was one of those mornings in church where you feel so blessed to be among this group of people, to be so lucky to get a glimpse into how God is moving in people and families and friends, to feel so fortunate that God has given us a spirit of joy and laughter, among the sad and the hurting. Like I said, it's a poor narrative about what really went on that morning but hopefully you get the idea.
I left with the thought in my head, "Man, this is church."

More Real Live Missionaries

Had an opportunity to meet the McNs tonight at GCC. They are leaving for Florence, Italy next week and GCC is their sending church. They were really excited to hear about what we are doing with students, they love youth... For the past 2 years or so, they were in Charlotte, getting some training. Awesome to connect, and best of all, they are British! They will be speaking at 4th service next Sunday and I'm trying to line up some of the student summer teams to help dish out some ice cream. It would be a great way to connect, have the students hear about Italy and have the McNs catch a glimpse of SPACE. Here is more about them.

The Gap Between Me and Middle Schoolers

wow
I went to LC this morning to make an appearance to talk about the LC missions trip, just for a sec. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was Theme Park Sunday... and the 5th grade kids had shown up just to get a peek for their next year in middle school. There were tons of kids there... all playing some kinds of games... and then there were these dressed up theme park creatures there... see picture... and then when the program began, there was total chaos for a few minutes when one of the leaders welcomed the new 5th graders and threw candy at them. Picture 300 middle schoolers diving off the bleachers to grab handfuls of candy. I am too old.
I think the Theme Park Sunday idea was a carry over of yesterday, when LC went to Six Flags and you couldn't go unless you brought a friend. That's cool huh?
A snippet of this morning:

What I did during the Mall Prayer

In case anyone was wondering, during the Spring Break SPACE Prayer walk through the Mall, I was taking pictures in the mens room.

One of your SPACE leaders hard at work. Oh, and there is a new SPACE photo album on the Warehouse website. Thanks Chris Hayes!

The Faces of Missions

Some of the faces from the 2004 SPACE missions...
For those of you that have heard me go on and on about it, I hope this helps put some faces to the momentum.
Pray for these kids and leaders if you remember.








PS - As you can probably tell, these are linked via tripod.com. I started using it a while ago to host very lightweight images, you get 20M free. But I've had a really bad time of it... Sometimes my images show up, sometimes not. In other words, if you have another place where you can host images, use that. Comment if you've got another good place thats free. Although, I readily realize that it could be just me... html is my friend.

Mission 5 follow up

Wow. What an awesome time. We had three people who had spent some time overseas come and talk... Kind of a round table.
B - the Sudan
D and M - Egypt and Israel
The questions:
1.What was the best thing you did to relate to another culture well?
2.After being immersed in another culture, how should we behave differently as Americans?
3.What was the biggest cultural mistake you made? How did it happen?
4.What did you love about the new culture that you were in?
5.How did elements of your walk with Christ become known in that other culture? (ie. It was not just an American thing.)
Some great thoughts that they talked through, and I think the students got a lot to think about regarding culture. I know they are going to deal with different cultures on these trips, thats the beauty of it...
It went on for about 60 minutes, a little bit long for some of the kids. There were middle schoolers there... (Maybe this middle school weekend I am leading is a mistake... I'm just kidding...)
Also going to start to pray with the other team leaders periodically as we get closer to departure.
Wow. I can't believe the 5 meetings are over. I'm going to miss it.

Merry Go Round to pump water

Check this out. A merry go round that pumps water out of the ground while kids play on it. Very cool.

Origins review

Here is a review that this youth pastor from OH wrote about the Origins conference. It is well written and a good summary. Of course, how can you summarize 3 days of McManus...

Final Official Missions Prep

Something like this:

* real live missionaries panel talking about culture
* ice cream sundaes
* team time revisiting the 8 great questions
1.What can I learn about myself?
2.What can I learn about God?
3.What can I learn about community and church?
4.What can I learn about culture and its impact on faith?
5.What can I learn about justice and poverty?
6.What can I learn about discipleship?
7.What can I learn about my lifestyle?
8.What can I learn about my vocation?
(Taken from Short Term Missions Workbook)

Wow... It's been a great set of meetings with these students. Are we ready? Are we setting them up to be successful for these trips? Will they come back with a missional attitude and worldview? Will they understand more of the world and God's passion for it with and thru them?
I think so... and somehow I think little of it has to do with these meetings...

Contact

Over the past month or so, I've been focusing on meeting some key people just to hang out and talk about ministry. To hear about them, and listen to them, their dreams and visions. And of course, they want to hear about SPACE and my dreams and visions. It's been a great interchange.
Yesterday, I had lunch with our middle school pastor. He is new, only having been here for a few months. However, he was an intern here earlier and his wife grew up at GCC. Very cool. Great guy. He LOVES middle schoolers.
We had some great conversation, including shooting around the following ideas:

God always seems to call people to bigger ministries. Do you ever hear of someone answering a call to the 'little church'?
Hearing/listening for God's voice and direction
Can you impart a lifestyle of service to middle school kids or are they inherently only about being served? Are we too intentional about making ministry to them all about them and for them?

Would love to hear what you readers think about any of those.

IM presence

I don't know how much time you spend in actual hanging out with your students, aside from Sunday church, maybe a weekly small group, or a formal youth min activity. I find that I, unfortunately, hardly spend any time at all just being with them. I would love to more, but with the rigors of a full time job, two young children at home, and all of that, I don't really get too much time. It does happen every once in a while, but it has to be intentional and it has to be scheduled in advance. It's kind of too bad it has to be so structured, I love to just drive and pop in for visits... But it's important to realize that I'm not just making plans for myself, I've got 3 other people in the house to consider. Sometimes, I'll have kids drop by the house around the girlies bedtime, which is always fun for everyone. It's a big treat for them when someone comes over and reads a story or prays with them before bed.
In lieu of hang time, I find that IM can create a presence to connect with students. We used to use AIM quite a bit at work, now we have a corporate messaging platform. And since most of my job is leading, delegating, empowering my team, it's mostly done from a desk, either writing email, chatting over IM or talking on a conference call. IM is just so practical.
So I find that around 2-2.30, the buddy list just lights up. Of course, I don't have any milk and cookies when they get home from school, but I think some of the kids I have connected with know that I'm mostly around and can chat if they feel like it. I also don't try to overburden kids, like talking to them every time they come on. That would be a little weird. But of course, I make an effort and I think they do too. It's neat. Someone asked me once if I thought it was just a medium for gossip. I don't really think so, anymore than the phone is. They also mentioned that a kid that just moved here didn't really connect because they kept chatting with their old friends from where they moved from. I could see that. In fact, I told my graduating kids that that when they get to college, they should not log on for the first 2 weeks. The beginning of college should be about roaming from dorm to dorm, meeting people, not sitting at a computer.
Also, I use a thing called GAIM, which lets you run msn, yahoo and aim from the same window manager. It's very cool. The other thing that I love about it is that it automatically logs every conversation. Not because I am a weirdo. But I think it's fun to go back and read those significant conversations sometimes.
Anyway, I thought I would share some of the different things that I have chatted with kids about, things that I think are pretty significant:

missions (of course)
the will of God
dating
careers, the future, etc.
planning a surprise party
starting with a new campus ministry or not
working on a resume
checking grammar on a paper
dealing with addiction
helping a friend with is suicidal
good versus bad worship
family issues

So all in all, I'm a big fam of IM. Some of the students think that all I do is chat with people all day long. In reality, I do a lot of chatting with people all day long. It's just that most of it is work, some of it isn't. After all, I AM an extrovert...

For Bob

Bob, I think I deleted the post you commented on.
But yes, haha, I think I like it now...
Of course, I imagine there are people out there more neurotic than me...?

Template Done

ok,
now i'm happy

New Template and Comments

New Template and Comments
Well that wasn't too hard. I think I have all the pieces up and working like they used to, just with this new template. I dig it. Although, I'm not too happy about the way the Haloscan comments look on this page. Should I switch to blogger built in commenting? Anyone have a preference? Or even care? Ha.

New Template

New Template
new template.
comments will be up later today.

Unchurched

Unchurched
I don't think I get enough opportunity to sit down and talk with people that have no interest in 'religion' and talk about the deep issues of life. Recently, we got invited to our neighbors house for a Bible study. And we didn't even know they went to church. Apparently, they just got involved in a church a few months ago and the church decided to do the 40 days of purpose. So our neighbors, C and L, decided to host a Bible study on the Purpose Driven Life. Yeah, you are right, that is kind of cool. D has been going almost every week, I just already had too many commitments and such. Anyway, this past weekend, we were both able to go, and it was really fun. Not only fun, it was very intriguing and healthy to sit and mostly listen to what people outside the Church think about deep, significant issues of life. It's also been great to get to know C and L a little better instead of just talking about lawn feed and stuff like that.
Last week's study was on mission, ministry and service. As we talked, I jotted down some snippets which I found interesting. Interesting because I think they are symbolic of what people think about the church in general. I hope you find them interesting too:

- 'the church is fashion show'
- 'who are the unbelievers?' (also - I think the group we were with doesn't quite understand the Gospel yet, they still believe God chooses people based upon how good they are. Of course, I wanted to pipe up, but thought it was better to just listen.)
- 'that doesn't sound very Christian.'
- 'we need some kind of religious education for our son.' (really... very intruiging.)
- 'how do I decide how to serve, I might not want to make a long term commitment, or something better might show up.'

Overall, I was trying to take the advice that sometimes, we as Christ followers just talk to much. Do you sometimes feel, that when you only listen, you missed the boat?

NYT articles about adolescents

NYT articles about adolescents
Two very good articles I just read regarding adolescents.
Both from NYT. You might need to get free registration.
Both links From Thunderstruck

First:
For some reason, I've been fascinated with Las Vegas for the past few years. It's weird. I think it all started when I decided to take my Dteam guys, right after graduation, to work with YWAM Las Vegas. They have a thing called Lost World Cafe, where they minister to street people, down and out gamblers, etc. I thought it would be really really cool. In reality, guys that just graduated from high school were more interested in spending their summers saving money for college. It's understandable, and an interesting issue to note when planning student missions.

Kids in Las Vegas

The second article: talks about friends with benefits. I had never understood this phrase, and even still don't. But this article really opens the door on how easily our teenagers talk about sex these days.. and more.... Read it for yourself.

short-term "mission trip" worry parents

short-term "mission trip" worry parents
Someone found this by googling: 'short-term "mission trip" worry parents'
I thought that was pretty interesting.
So I thought I would share a little bit about my perspective about parents worrying when their kids go on mission trips.
There is certainly enough to be worried about, outside of sending your kid to a foreign country or to the inner city. You can't be with your child at all times, knowing what they are doing, the people they are meeting, how their leaders are protecting and guiding them. And in a post 9-11 world, the circumstances, especially overseas, can escalate within a moments notice. One other thing about the post 9-11 world - it is a violent world, and we better get used to it. We will no longer be able to travel the world as citizens of America and be so well greeted. It's a tough edict of the new world, but one that we just will have to deal with. And as one who believes we need to build Christ-followers that have a correct worldview, violence based on what you believe is a real part of the world outside of America. We have no idea what persecution for our faith really is. Jesus came to draw people to Himself, out of false idols and religions, and the violence that our world has come to is part of that equation.
So, yes, lots to worry about.
On the other hand, I have met a handful of families that would, as one way to put it, love to sign one permission form for their childen's whole high school careers. Worry is not part of their worldview. Their child's safety certainly is important, but its not even close to dominating their decisions about their children. It's quite intruiging, especially since I am certainly not on this side of the scale. Why are they like that? How can I be more so? I think some of it comes to an issue of faith. They probably have more faith than I have. But I think it's more than just the idea that God will take care of their children. Because, in the end, that's a pretty shallow theology. I think, and I might be wrong, that it's more the idea that God has placed our family on mission and whatever comes will come. It is a sense of an overriding direction and purpose, driving not only the kids, but the parents as well. So the mission trip is, in a sense, the opportunity when the child is released into the world, from the family, to fulfill their passion and destiny. One other component with these families, I think they have prepared their kids so well, worrying about their decision making, the activities they will be doing while unsupervised, the character that has been ingrained in these kids, their levels of responsibility, all of these seem to be a nonissue too. I think it becomes not so much as what could happen to my kid as what a great opportunity for growth and purpose and he/she is ready for it.
It reminds me of this:
"When we believe that God’s purpose, intention or promise is that we will be safe from harm, we are utterly disconnected from the movement and power of God." - McManus
I hope this helps the person that googled that phrase.

Scripture of Late

Scripture of Late
Scripture that I have been thinking about lately:

Matt 11
After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee. When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples to ask him, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?" Jesus replied, "Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."
As John's disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind? If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings' palaces. Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written:
" 'I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way before you.' I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. He who has ears, let him hear.
"To what can I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling out to others:
" 'We played the flute for you,
and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge
and you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.' The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' But wisdom is proved right by her actions."

Heb 3:15
As has just been said:
"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."

I Thes 1
Paul, Silas and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace and peace to you.
We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. The Lord's message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia--your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it, for they themselves report what kind of reception you gave us. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Waiting

Waiting
A sermon from Pastor Mark, from Luke 8, titled "The Thing We Like the Least."
Listen to the rm here.
A few of my notes to whet your appetite.

- Jairus turns around
Jesus is nowhere to be found
Jesus is talking to this woman
And Jairus is left waiting
Meanwhile, someone came out and said, Dead is your daughter v.49
too late - we missed our window of opportunity, now leave Jesus alone
When they got there, the funeral had started - a full fledged funeral
Jesus says stop wailing, she is asleep, they are convinced she is dead
They laughed at Jesus, knowing that she was dead

- Delays and interruptions are part of God's plan
from the woman's perspective - Jesus is 12 years late
from Jairus' perspective - Jesus is 12 minutes late
from Jesus perspective - he is not late at all
The delays we see are part of the plan

- in our culture, who waits?
we have a sophisticated ranking system for waiting
people who have the most clout don't wait
God's choicest people are asked to wait
Because of how God transforms us when we wait
Because of what God does around us when we wait

the Penleys are back

the Penleys are back
The Penleys came home last night. They will be on the campus of the UofMD next. Great hearing stories of how God is moving throughout this world.
Best thing he said - in Melbourne, their team commited to praying, really praying, for the ministry. And it blew wide open.

Memorial Day 2004

Memorial Day 2004
"America has been known as a Christian nation due to the tremendous impact that the Christian faith has had on our society. At the same time, the Christian faith has become delusional, over-identifying itself with society as a whole. A Christian revolution must live in tension with human societies and cultures. We want to see an authentic Christian expression in every culture on this planet – in fact we are called to make it so. But there must never be a moment when we perceive Christianity as equal to the culture itself. When we begin to see being a Christian and being American as indistinguishable, we lose the transforming essence of our faith. The ultimate goal of American Christianity should not be to make us good citizens but to make us revolutionaries in the cause of Jesus Christ." - McManus

Keeping Up with Sudan

Keeping Up with Sudan
If you remember hearing anything about the mass genocide that happened in Rwanda, this should give you the creeps. If you don't remember, you can get the quick details here. Then you can get the creeps just like the rest of us. Current news on the potential Sudan genocide here. If you call yourself a Christ-follower, it is your responsibility to at least know something about the current state of affairs in Sudan.

My Hair

My Hair
Apparently, lots of people have questions about my hair. I think its funny. Its kind of a small rebellion against corporate America. Its a reminder from Origins for me to be a barbarian. Its a mid life crisis that doesn't involve sports cars. As my wife says, it's better than me being bald. Haha, I could go on all day.

04-05 SPACE Goals

04-05 SPACE Goals
Had a GCC YM staff meeting yesterday. It was, like they always are, very fun. Very energizing and motivating. Nothing like a meeting in the corporate world...
Anyway, one of the things we did was talk about 04-05 school year goals.
Also a key piece to our goals was fitting them in to the overall Grace strategy, which is as:
G - God's Word
R - Relationships
A - Authentic Worship
C - Compassion
E - Every Person Participating

Ok, now some of you might find it a little hokey that there is an acronym based on our church's name into specific goals. But give us a little slack, huh? And anyway, I think, when I try to be objective about it, that those elements make up a really good strategy...

More on goals later... I think some of the pondering about some stuff I learned at Origins and thinking about next year is starting to come together...

Emergent/Origins

Emergent/Origins
I've been reading some of the blogs that have followed the Emergent Convention. Interesting. It doesn't seem quite like the effect that Origins had on me.

Prep #4 photos

Prep #4 photos
Put up just a few photos from the missions prep mtg #4 here.

Best Commencement Address

A few years ago, in 1998 actually, somehow I heard this guy speak at a commencment address at Kenyon College. I wasn't there, I don't even know where Kenyon is. But I think I saw him give the speech on late night CSPAN or something (which I never watch.) But... I think this is the BEST commencement speech I have ever read or heard.
Graduation speeches have such power. Like SM said last week in CpR, this time of the year is filled with hope and expectation. New kids moving up to high school and middle school, kids graduating, college kids come home fresh from new experiences. And graduations... they are times filled with emotion, idealism, freshness, liberation. To be able to address youth during this time in their lives is always an honor and priviledge. I only got to do it once, a few years ago, speaking at another church's graduation dinner for a youth program they had. It was fun, because you are engaging so much promise and potential. And you have to be brief, but commanding.
Oops, as I was saying about this speech... In honor of the class of 04... I have pasted it here. It used to be available on the Kenyon website... But it's worth the full read.


Office of Public Affairs
Kenyon College Commencement Address
May 17, 1998
by Mark C. Rosenthal '73 President and Chief Operating Officer,
MTV Networks
As I was preparing my remarks the other day, I suddenly realized that you didn't want to hear necessarily from me, that maybe what I should do is get up here and say, "Hey, you guys have worked hard for four years. Looks like you need a little fun. So . . . here are the Red Hot Chili Peppers!"
Seriously, I really want to thank the Class of 1998 for inviting me to share this great occasion with you. I particularly want to thank you for not rescinding your invitation, even after I informed [President] Rob Oden that with two kids under four, I'm not hanging out a lot backstage with Marilyn Manson anymore. And since I am from the Class of 1973, I do feel compelled to promise you that my remarks won't be filled with what Cartman on "South Park" describes as "that tree-hugging hippie crap."
Twenty-five years have passed since I sat where you're sitting now, but the memories of
my time at Kenyon are still fresh. Like you, I was fortunate to spend my college years in a place where ideas matter. Like me, you will forget most of what you have learned here. And you will forget it before you even turn thirty.
You know, that's not as bad as it sounds. Because there is one thing you've learned here that you will never forget: how to think. How to use critical analysis to dissect and inspect what you read and what you see. How to seek out and discover on your own. How to be an individual instead of part of a herd.
The most memorable part of my Kenyon experience was really learning how to learn and learning that from great friends and teachers like Tom Turgeon, Harlene Marley, and the late Jim Michael; from Gal Crump and Bill Klein, Phil Church and Perry Lentz; from Peter Rutkoff and Harry Clor.
Now, smart people who know how to think on their own command a premium in any market. So for the sacrifices you've made to learn here, you will be repaid over and over again--though not necessarily in ways that you might expect now.
Kenyon is an iconoclastic place, and its graduates have blazed some unique trails through life. My college friends here went on to do some very interesting things, and while they've been successful, I don't think money was ever a motivating factor in their decisions. One friend, Murray Horwitz '70, became a clown with Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus. That was an extremely formative experience, and it prepared him very well for a second career--in politics. Of course, from politics it was
basically a straight line right into show business. He went on to write the hit musical Ain't Misbehavin' about the great jazz musician Fats Waller. And he now runs cultural programming for National Public Radio.
My Kenyon roommate, Greg Andorfer '73, majored in English and art history and went on to business school, but he ended up producing shows for public TV. He considered it a license to learn about absolutely anything that interested him. One of those things happened to be astrophysics. So he called up Carl Sagan one day to talk to him. And that's how the phenomenal series "Cosmos" came to be. After many years in television, Greg now runs the Maryland Science Center. My own path out of Kenyon also was pretty circuitous. I attended graduate school in drama, then went on to run several professional theater companies. I'd always been interested in marriages of art and commerce. I eventually found an intriguing one in an emerging new industry called cable
television. Unfortunately, the first place where I worked, a small unit of CBS that focused only on arts programming, decided there wasn't enough commerce to justify their investment. They folded their cable operation--and my job with it.
But I had seen enough of cable to believe in it. So I moved on to a place then called Warner AMEX Satellite Entertainment company, which turned out to be a precursor to the company I work for now, MTV Networks.
MTV Networks started in 1981 with MTV, but today it's a lot more. Of course, it's still MTV, which is now in more than 300 million homes in the United States and around the world, including mainland China and, as of September, Russia. It's Nickelodeon, the most popular channel for kids, on broadcast or cable. It's also Nick at Nite, and a new channel called TV Land, which is kind of like Nick at Nite on steroids (if you don't get it, call your cable operator). It's also VH1, Comedy Central, and a brand-new channel called Noggin, the first educational channel for kids, in a partnership with Children's Television Workshop.
The people who came to MTV back in 1981 were a diverse, rag-tag, motley crew. Some came from radio. Some came from magazines. Some came from totally alien fields entirely--the theater, packaged goods, retailing, advertising. None of them came from broadcast television, because traditional broadcasters would never hire them. But all of them came because they were challenged and intrigued by this new medium, recognizing that the most critical measure of success would be making a single brand stand out from what would soon be the rapidly proliferating competition of multiple viewing options.
That's something broadcasters never had to think about. The mandate of the broadcast networks was (and still is) to reach as many people as possible, with a broad-based mix of sitcoms, dramas, news, and sports. But at MTV we sensed that in an exploding television landscape, where people's options would soon increase tenfold, a paradigm shift was about to take place.
There needed to be a whole new notion of TV: not linear, not about story lines with a
beginning, middle, and end, not about plot and continuity, but about mood and emotion.
Until cable came along in the early eighties, people only identified with individual programs, rather that with a network. They might rush home to watch "Happy Days" or "Charlie's Angels," but a network itself had no "identity." As such, in the history of American television, no one has ever uttered the following phrase: "I feel like going home and watching a little CBS tonight."
In contrast, MTV was truly a "postmodern" network. It was never really about the shows. It was about one idea, twenty-four hours a day--a pop-cultural identity. But most of all, it was about the audience and about connecting with the audience in a unique and meaningful way. Today, people say, "I feel like watching MTV" and you know exactly what they mean.
Today, the broadcast networks are struggling after ten successive years of losing both viewers and their share of audience to cable. The number of sure-fire broadcast hits--the "Seinfelds" and "ERs" of their world--are down to fewer than a handful. And, although it's our dirty little secret, for those who keep score, MTV Networks will probably be more profitable this year than ABC, CBS, and NBC--combined. To be honest with you, that's actually a mixed blessing. Because we now run the risk of becoming the establishment. MTV has only gotten where it has by never becoming too complacent--by constantly reinventing itself--by celebrating each success with a resounding
"OK--what's next"--and by never taking ourselves too seriously.
So it is appropriate that, as someone who has been part of MTV Networks almost from the
beginning, I get to address you today. Because our whole company was created with your
generation in mind. Yours was truly the first generation to grow up with us right from
the start--moving from Nickelodeon as children to MTV and Comedy Central as young adults--and by the time you've settled down a little bit, I hope you'll be watching VH1. But while you were growing up with us, we were growing up with you. Over the last
seventeen years, MTV has become one of the most recognizable, yet polarizing, brands of all time, credited with setting trends in music, fashion, and youth culture, while simultaneously being held responsible for the entire decline of civilization as we know it. When it began, MTV was the loud, strident voice of irreverence and rebellion, of kids vs. parents (as in "I want my MTV!"); that tone was evident in the music, the programming, and even in the way the channel promoted itself.
But we've also laid down a lot of cultural landmarks for your generation, and we've sought to play a more socially productive role in your lives than anything television has ever attempted. In the past seventeen years, MTV introduced middle America to urban street music with "Yo! MTV Raps"; raised millions for famine relief with "Live Aid"; helped engage young people in the political process, culminating with the "Choose or Lose" campaign and the election of Bill Clinton; and in general tapped into the hearts and minds of a generation with news and specials that one could only see on MTV.
We've always operated as outsiders, challenging the conventional wisdom. We didn't know that it couldn't be done, so we just did it. We've been presumptuous. We've been obnoxious. We've been downright rude. And we've made mistakes. Many of them. But we haven't been safe. We haven't been predictable. We haven't trudged along a well-worn path to successful mediocrity. And we've never been afraid to fail.
Of course, MTV wasn't exactly the first to come along and challenge the established powers that be. That's a great American tradition. Harriet Tubman, Walt Whitman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ida Mae Tarbell, Woodie Guthrie, Paul Robeson, Jackson Pollack, Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, Jack Kerouac, Malcolm X, Cesar Chavez, Lenny Bruce, Muhammad Ali, Bob Dylan, Curt Flood, Curt Cobain--the list is long and varied. Rabble-rousing is an American birthright. Despite a penchant for middle-class, middle-of-the-road homogeneity, America usually comes around to admiring--and rewarding--those who burn their bridges to convention and safety--and light up
the sky in the process.
Even in the fifties, when post-war prosperity first gave rise to a discussion of
"corporate America," and when the role model of choice was the company man--and they certainly did mean man--there was an explosion of creativity in American culture. There was be-bop in the air, beat poetry on the page, and abstract expressionism on canvas. Yet the counterculture of the fifties is nothing compared to what you and your generation have the potential to create in the next millennium.
As you take leave of Kenyon today, the world is being remade at a dizzying pace.
In America, entrepreneurialism and creativity are ascendant from Silicon Valley to Times Square. Around the world, opportunity has never been more plentiful, freedom never more genuine, and diversity never more possible. With your Kenyon education you are especially well prepared to seize this day.
You are prepared, in effect, for nothing in particular but everything in general, for the rigors of a life dictated by no one but you.
Before I'm accused of waxing too poetic, let me be blunt. None of you should try to come up with the next MTV. Don't make the short-sighted choice of riding the wave of a phenomenon that's already begun to crest or cloning an already successful formula. You shouldn't want to.
You see, what I'm trying to tell you is this: We don't need more copies. We need more
originals. There are originals out there in every industry. Some are fledglings. Others are just beginning to gain some traction in their respective arenas. Still others have yet to be born--they are ideas waiting to be discovered by people of passion and commitment and intelligence.
People who respond when the rest of the world is going left by going right.
People whose dreams matter to them and, later on, come to matter to the rest of us.
There are works of art, political programs, social causes, ideas, even entire industries that do not exist today. Yet before you reach your parents' age they will. And you will be the instigators behind them. You have to be. By default, there's no one else. You can create a "South Park."
Or a Broadway musical like Rent. Or a Netscape. Or a Yahoo. Or an amazon.com. Or a Hard Candy.
Or something we can't even imagine because the seed of the idea resides only in your head.
MTV was started by a group of people not much older than you are now.
Microsoft was started by a very stubborn nineteen-year-old who was convinced that the business school wizards at IBM and the Ph.D.s at Xerox were all wrong--and he was right.
These are perhaps extreme examples. Certainly Bill Gates is a very unusual case.
And the Microsoft narrative has now traveled full circle--all the way from anti-establishment to anti-trust. But regardless of the details, there is often virtue--and on rarer occasions, even gold--to be found in challenging established modes and means. To take--in effect--the path of most resistance. It's true in the arts. It's true in academia. It's true in teaching.
It's true in entertainment. It's true in law and medicine and other professions. It's true in business. It's true in public service.
I know that many of you in this class are going to law school. When you begin to study
the great Supreme Court opinions that have given shape and texture and context to so
much of American life, keep in mind how many of them are not the opinions of the
majority but of the Court's dissenters.
Of course, traveling against the traffic is inherently risky. It's much easier to go with the flow. What's more, your intelligence and education afford you a great many advantages when you remain--quite content, perhaps--in the mainstream. But please, please, please, don't get too comfortable yet. You can take risks when you are young that you will never, ever have the courage or capacity to embrace again. People of every age contributed to the civil-rights revolution in this country. But it was the young--people precisely your age--who drove that movement, who seized
history and turned it on its head by the power of their passion.
It's our job at MTV to know a lot about you. We know, for instance, that you are an
extremely hard-working generation. We know that you are the most inclusive, least-bigoted, generation in the history of America. You are truly a chosen group, entering the world at a time of unprecedented opportunity. The economic constraints and cultural straitjackets--those that have undermined the promise of so many previous generations--are falling before you.
You have youth, and you have an environment conducive to change. All you need now is an idea to believe in, the courage to pursue it, and the desire to never let up.
It's customary, I believe, for commencement speakers to encourage the assembled graduates in the name of their parents and families. "Make them proud of you," the person at the podium is supposed to say. "Make us all proud." With your permission, I'll pass. For starters, your families and loved ones are already visibly proud of you. They are absolutely smitten with you.
So the "make us proud" bit seems, quite honestly, a little redundant here today.
You see, we're looking for something more out of you. A lot more. Because we know who
you are. And we know what you're capable of. We know what you can do if you put your minds and souls to the test, if you project your passion and your commitment and your integrity into a world that always seems to run a deficit on the good things. We know what you can do if you think outside the box, if you challenge the norm and break the rules.
So not your families, nor I, nor Kenyon will be satisfied by feelings of pride. That's just not enough. Don't just make us proud. Delight us.
Surprise us. Shock us. Challenge us. Invigorate us. Astonish us. As a matter of fact,
astonish the hell out of us. As Cartman would say--"That would be sweet."

Bono's commencement address

Bono's commencement address
Full text here. As Christ-followers, I think we have to be aware of issues around the globe and the AIDS crisis in Africa has got to be one of the largest.

Only 3?

Only 3?
I just realized, I think, two days ago, that I'm actually going on 3 mission trips this summer. Does that sound a little ridiculous to you too?
1 - with my daughter K - Mustard Seeds
2 - middle school weekend - CMTS
3 - SPACEcrew - NYC
I guess it's not as crazy as it sounds. Each one of them has some pretty specific goals in mind, are with things or localities that we have ties with before, in some roundabout way, and all of them are pieces that are designed to be part of a movement, not just a one time summer trip. I'm excited about them all, but most nervous about #1, like a wrote in a previous post.
"Something mystical happens when you get over your motion sickness and begin to move with God." - McManus
Expecting that God will move in the circumstances where we feel least confident, I think #1 will be big. Maybe I will end up barfing sometime during that week...

The DeShazer story

The DeShazer story
What a story here. You have to read it to really get it.
Some snippets:
- one of the bombers during WWII, one of the bleakest missions
- captive by the Japanese, 40 months of imprisonment and torture, 34 of those in solitary confinement
- started to fall in love with Jesus in prison
- got released, came home, got a degree in missions, got married
- went back to Japan as a missionary
- planted 23 churches, including three from their home, and one in Nagoya, the city that he had bombed
What the heck...

Got the link from a new blog I've been reading, Looking Closer, which is written by a film/music critic for Christianity Today. Remember, relevance to the culture is .... ok you remember.

Christian Teens and P2P

Christian Teens and P2P
Ahoy!!
Read it here (requires watching an add from Salon.com)
This has to got to be my favorite quote from the article:
"And can Satan really be involved in the sharing of an Amy Grant hit single?"
Hilarious.
It is a good article though. Would be a great discussions starter.
On a related note, I stopped downloading free music about around the Fall of 03. Prior to that, I hadn't bought a CD in probably 3 years. It was bad.
Now, I have a line item in our budget titled 'Culture' for music and movies. Like Erwin says, "Relevance to the culture is not an option."
Here is a list of the CDs I have bought since I stopped downloading illegally:

Norah Jones (the latest, I can't remember the title)
Evanescence - Fallen
Clint Black - Nothin' But the Taillights (yard sale)
Bebo Norman - Myself When I Am Real
Jeremy Camp - Stay
Hillsongs - Hope
Mosaic - Ancient God (from Origins, probably the best of the list)

I also did the iTunes thing for the month of April when they were doing those free downloads from Pepsi bottles. It was good while it lasted, but you can't turn those into MP3s very easily. So you have to use the iTunes player. And you can't move them from media to media. Long story. If you want details, google it.

Mustard Seed

Mustard Seed
Well K and I are signed up to go to this Mustard Seed camp with Teen Missions. Some of you might have heard about Teen Missions, they send thousands of teenagers all over the world every summer. Theoretically, I've got some issues with the approach that they have for sending students on mission trips. However, at least one person I've talked to had a phenomenal experience with Teen Missions. During her Boot Camp, God grabbed her life for the first time ever. And she has held on tight since then, and currently serves as one of our middle school leaders at GCC. So although I might not agree with the mobilization process that Teen Missions uses, I certainly cannot, and will not, deny that they can, and are, drawing students closer to Jesus.
Frankly, I'm a little worried about this Mustard Seed camp. No electricity, no cell phones, no pagers, no literature other than the Bible, no shorts, etc. It is a real boot camp. I think I'm too soft for it. Hopefully, K and I will both love it and all those other silly worries will just fade away. I have always said it would be a great experience for my kids to experience another country or culture. This is along the same lines.

Dinner with SM

Dinner with SM
I had dinner with SM, our high school pastor, last week. It was so fun. Just a time to relax and hang out and talk, and of course, eat. The man can really eat. It was awesome. (of course, I don't mean it was awesome the way he eats...)
He later sent me an email with something to the effect that I inspire him... No, no, its quite the other way around...

Weekend Update

Weekend Update
The weekend was good. And it's not over yet. The rest is going to be good too. I'm sitting here watching my kids in a kiddie pool. A perfect Sunday afternoon.

Fri:
leader celebration at Grace.
PM talked about being a solider.
"There is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer."
Oh and Bridge the Gap Sunday - 1,000 families gave financially. $1.2M. Wow.

Sat:
time with Granny and Grandpa
Missions Prep #4 with Gadget.
Human knots, ropes, etc.
Very fun. The LC missions team came along. Very exciting, it is not a bunch
of missions teams, it is a movement of the younger generation.

Sun:
CpR this am.
SM talked about the Ephesus church, the gateway to the East.
If the Church could grow in Ephesus, it can grow anywhere.
Opened SEMP for all of high school. Got two interested parties right away. Yes.

Missions Prep #4

Missions Prep #4

A very quick rundown:

- support
- Joel 2:28 - dreamers and visionaries
index cards
prayer partner
- pray
- team initiatives with G

Do you come in the nice model?

Do you come in the nice model?
Whoa, I'm having a really long week. I've worked way too many hours this week, not only quantity, but the issues I've had to deal with have taken a toll. I joined conference call this morning and just went off. Not good, this is not the way we attract people to who we say our God is... Ok, I'm going to go back to the call and be a lot nicer. Maybe I'll even try to be helpful.

More Search Terms

More Search Terms
That brought people here:

"tony sheng gmail" - - I love it. its awesome.
"sheng words" - - Thats weird.
"tony sheng" - - That would be me.
"atthewarehouse" - - Yeah buddy.
+"health" +"agency" +"sample support letters" - - Hmm interesting

Breathe on Me

Breathe on Me
One of the last artsy things they did at Origins.
It was a dancer who did a dance to this song.
Powerful lyrics.

Breathe On Me - Jennifer Knapp

No Temptation Seize A Man That He Can't Overcome
Who Am I To Be Fallen?
Crack Your Back On A Slab Of Wood
Come Freedom, Nail It Down
I Come Crawling,
I Come Crawling

CHORUS:
Come Trickle Down And Save The World
Two Hands That I Can't See
Come Breathe, Come Breathe,
Come Breathe On Me
Split-Rib Water, Blood And Bone
Come Now, Come Calvary
Come Breathe, Come Breathe On Me

Testimony Come Now, Quickly, Whisper In My Ear:
Celebration
Peace At Last Not Far Away, Empty Sheet, A Borrowed Grave:
Salvation
Come Freedom, Come
Come Freedom, Come

CHORUS

Come Freedom, Come
Come Freedom, Come
Come Freedom, Come

CHORUS

Urbanization

Urbanization
From An Unstoppable Force, ideas about urbanization:
Like many cities, Los Angeles inhales the nations and has the potential of exhaling the gospel. Ralph Winter has proposed that the last great frontier for the gospel is the cities. It is impossible to talk about the future without mentioning the cities. While human history began in a garden, it ends in the city. This is a planet of great cities.
The suburban church is in many ways the natural development of the county-seat church, maintaining it's focus on family, community, and rural values.
It's ironic that the word pagan finds its roots in a word meaning 'country dweller.' Where once the pagan lived in the country and the danger of the city was to be Christianized, now Christians tend to live away from the cities and view the urban dweller as the true pagan.

I started really talking about the whole urbanization thing with my students that went off to college last summer. An original idea that I really liked (I don't have many original ideas that I like) was to write them a letter instead of get them a gift for their graduation parties. So in the letter was a list of things they should do during college. And for each one of them, I wrote that they should go on an inner city missions trip sometime during college, simply because of this idea of urbanization. And the fact that, if you know about Howard County, Maryland, it's just about the epitmoe of suburbia. If anything, these kids need to get out and experience life in the city for real. They need to live it and not just see it on TV. An experience like that would do so much for making them more full, more able to engage the world around us, more in touch with compassion, justice, mercy.

7 world changes for missions

7 world changes relevant for missions
The full article here.
1. 24/x7 global communications
2. Largest population migration in history. More than 50% of the world now lives in urban areas.
3. Global economy.
4. The center of the Christian faith is shifting from the West to Latin America, Asia and Afria.
5. There are now more than 3000 mission agencies and entities.
6. Churches are reclaiming the front line of missions.
7. The laity are being empowered and released. A release of God's people unparalleled since Acts 8.

Wow, I totally see it. All 7 make sense to me. The coolest is #7. I know I've said it lots before, but we have a younger generation that needs to be released into mission as a crucial and integral part of their existence. They cannot exist without being called into an epic story.

An email from Erwin

An email from Erwin
So I wrote an email to Erwin McManus thanking him for the Origins conference and all his team did to serve us with it. I figured it was the least that I could do.
Here is a snippet of what I got back, written by one of his personal assistants.
"I just wanted to pass on Erwin's sincere thanks for your encouragement. He has read every one of his emails and has been truly touched and energized by emails such as yours. He thanks you for your words, and wishes you all the adventure that the Lord has in store."
So wait a minute, he's been touched and energized by an email that I wrote... Now that's pretty cool. It's really the least that I could do. And he wishes me the adventure... Dude.

Kstan

Kstan
Well the boys are probably on their way between Germany and Kstan now. They left last night at 6pm from Dulles and the first leg was 12 hours to Frankfurt. And then another 8 to Alma Ata, Kstan. Cool. They will be there until June 4. Here is the weather forecast for Alma Ata. Don't you just love the Internet?

TP scrapbookremember

TP scrapbook
Some of you that follow this blog have heard me talk about TP, a student that was in a high school guys small group that I led for 4 years. You know he's had some rough times with addictions and such. Anyway, he is graduating from high school this weekend and his mother is asking people to jot down thoughts, stories, verses, wisdom, etc. for a scrapbook for him.
Here is my contribution:

My favorite memory of TP was the time him, AH and myself
served as valet parking for a family friend's wedding party.
Consistently, when there are boys and cars, there is adventure.
This night was no different as we had the P's 4x4.
After some time parking cars and attending to guests,
the reception started and we had little to do, except the truck,
a huge plot of land and some snacks.
So TP decided to give us a driving tour of the property.
While driving around, it seemed like he decided to take a random
turn off the road to go up a clearing to a light in the distance.
And we got the Suburban stuck in the mud. I think it was only
slightly stuck at first. Then TP put it in 4x4 and floored
it. By then, it was stuck good. And the truck was covered in lots
of mud. We wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
There in the dark, in the mud, with a whole wedding reception going
on up the hill, we sat and contemplated what to do.
There was my SUV, AH's Jeep, and the tractor in the garage. And of
course, AH and I wondered, "Where exactly is that light you were
looking for, TP?"
Eventually, we got my SUV and towed the Suburban out of the mud hole.
After we got it back on the road, the hole was easily 12-13 inches deep.
And really muddy.
It's probably my favorite memory because, like most boys and men,
we had an adventure. But adventure isn't the only element in this story.
This story, in many ways, symbolizes a lot about the grand story of
life, and how God involves us in His epic story of reaching our
world for His praise.
Like that night, it's easy for most of us to get stuck in the mud when you
are looking for a light in the distance. Many times, God calls us
to go through hard and sticky situations and circumstances, risking
a lot of what we have and think in order to be misunderstood
for His purposes and glory.
It requires a great deal of trust to go off the beaten path when
you believe the true light is calling to you. And it really helps having
a group of friends with you, who share in the adventure of seeking,
the dare of not knowing, the risk of getting stuck somewhere with you.
TP, my hope is that your life continues to embody adventure, risk and
good friends willing to get muddy with you, all so God can be praised.

Always your dteam leader,
-tony

Missionaries for Dinner

Missionaries for Dinner
We had these missionaries for dinner. And these. Wow it was a great time of hearing how God is moving in the world. And to hear their story and testimony of how they went into the field. To hear how God places someone in a specific circumstance for a specific time, for specific people... that's so much fun to hear. And to hear how God transforms a heart to care for a specific country and group of people that they have never been exposed to before. That is a God thing.
Like Erwin said, "...people who can speak to what they have heard in conversation with God."
Very fun.

Ministry vs. Me

Ministry vs. Me
During the big outside party this am, one of our mission leaders asked me if he could ask me a 'ministry related question.' It got me thinking. Our previous church experience, almost 9 years ago, included lots of activities ministry related, including youth leader, adult Sunday school and D teaching in the church's Christian school as a full time teacher. So Sunday's were anything but a break for us. She would have parents asking her questions about students while she was at church trying to, in very stereotypical terms, fellowship and worship. We were able to easily comparmentalize ministry and life. Some Sunday's we just skipped church because we didn't want to have to deal with all the ministry/work stuff while were trying to regroup spiritually at church. Overall, I think that was really unhealthy. Of course, it wasn't intentional on anyone's part. And I know that when you go into vocational ministry, you definitely lose some obscurity.
But it got me thinking, doesn't God's mission require us to be fully engaged? Shouldn't a Christ-follower be a wholly fully devoted person? Spiritual life shouldn't be segmented between who we are on Sundays as a worshipper versus another night as youth leader or a day job as a teacher. And I'm happy to say that I've never felt the same way at GCC. Ministry, life, who I am has always been all together. I'm a husband, a father, an engineer, a youth leader and it is all put together by God for a unique purpose. And the overlap of all the elements makes every piece even better. I am good engineer because I have a life outside of work, my family loves to be a part of the family ministering to students, etc... Just thinking off the top of my head.
With regards to the conversation this morning, I told him, "Sure, definitely!"

Bridge the Gap Sunday

Bridge the Gap Sunday
Well today was the big one service on the land.... Wow. It was pretty incredible, all those people. And it poured rain like all last night, but this morning, it was an awesome morning. Very cool.
PM spoke about the seed, and how there are people that came to Christ from someone else going before them, and how this property is a huge planting/seeding/reaping opportunity. It was some good stuff.
On a side note, my youngest daughter got a little lost, and ended up down in front in his arms. Funny.
They also had the elder team and the pastoral team do some groundbreaking with some shovels. That was cool. And they let each family have a chance to do that, and everyone took home a cup of dirt from the land with some seeds in it, so we could watch both our church and the seeds grow at the same time. Pretty neat.
A few pictures are here.

Weekend Update

Weekend Update
This weekend has been fun so far... Except I'm working right now...
Last night was Carni Night... very fun. SM did an awesome job as usual. CP our youth admin/catalyst brought a visitor, I think she is hooked as a volunteer. Funny like that. Once people experience the ministry, they probably either are way too scared of it, or want totally in. Had a very late meal with K.
Hung out today with some good friends of ours that used to go to Grace. Some very cool things happening with them in Montgomery County. They are helping pull together married small groups in MD for McLean Bible, powerhouse of the Beltway.
Went to a birtdhay party for a couple that are old friends of ours tonight. They turn 40. Yikes. 40 in age, definitely not in spirit. It was great to hang out with them.
Tomorrow is Bridging the Gap Sunday, where we have church on the new property. It's going to be pretty neat, except, earlier tonight, it was pouring. If there is bad weather, we do church like normal. Which will be kind of a disappointment... On the way home tonight, D and I stopped in the park and ride lot to pray for tomorrow and for the land and the building. My prayer is that the building brings us even closer as a church to God's mission in the world and that we don't worship the building. We will see.
K leaves for Kstan on Monday. Him and two other guys from the 03 boys are going. Very exciting. These poor guys have just had a whirlwind - they've been home from college after finishing their freshmen year just less than a week and then off they go to Kstan. Pretty crazy but what a great experience. K's got this great attitude about not knowing at all what to expect. I think that's what Erwin refers to as bringing more chaos into our environments...

Carni Night

Carni Night
Carni Night tomorrow night at the Warehouse. Ha yeah. Don't ask me how, but it should be fun. Second to last Friday night outreach for the year. Look for me, I'll be at the card table.

3 marks of a disciple

From Erwin - 3 marks of a disciple
1. God taught - Jer 33
What God says is not hearsay for you.
Give yourselves of helping everyone who knows Christ to hear his voice. John 10
If God is silent to you – Christianity is irrelevant to you.
Pour your life into the Scriptures
Your Christianity should not be rumors about God.

2. Godd moved - Ex ??
You become holy in the sight of the world
You love what is right and true
Passions are transformed
You do right because you long for God
Who are you when you are totally alone, when no one is looking?
When pagans come to Christ – they get as close as they can to life with Christ
When Christians come to Christ – they see how close to the wrong edge they can get, they try to get away with things that are questionable.

3. God inspired - Joel 2:28
God inspired
Dreaming dreams beyond our wildest imagination
Problems with hyperventilation when you talk about your life with God
Movement of dreamers and visionaries
The contemporary church does not have the same idea because we have – managers, administrators, preachers, teachers
Die to your own dreams – enliven others dreams
Too many pastors are manipulating
Dreams/visions are born in the lives of people in the church

Of course, I'm selling the session short here. He told lots of stories about some pretty amazing circumstances, etc. I think it was the best session. It also ended with a video collage of some images from the people at Mosaic set to U2's "Beautiful Day". And the very end was a commissioning ceremony for all the church planters that were at the conference. They were prayed for and anointed with oil. Very cool.
Which incidentally, is a very interesting topic - church planting. But alas, for another time...

Fast asleep

Fast Asleep
I rocked my 3 year old daughter, E, to sleep tonight. Most of the time, she is still awake when I lay her in her bed. But every once in a while, every so often, she will fall asleep while she is in my arms. It's quite an experience. To feel her breath on my neck, to feel the heat rising off of her scalp as she sweats when sleeping, to feel her heartbeat every so slightly on my chest, those are things that I can't even really explain. My trying to describe them isn't even close.
How long do we get with our children? How long will life and the world and their will let us cradle them, hug them, kiss them, pray with them? How much time do we have while they sit with us in our laps, listen to music, be quiet as the night comes.
I'm sure it will not be long enough. But if we are willing to take risks for God, if we are willing to be misunderstood for His sake, to go to the dangerous places, literally and figuratively, our children will go before us and advance the Kingdom in ways we could never imagine. And when we see that, we will be glad that instead of keeping our kids in our laps and coddling them to sleep, we released them to be a part of God's glorious epic story to win the nations to Himself.

Early Adopter vs. Innovator

Erwin on early adopter versus innovator -
Who was the first person to eat a sea cucumber? Someone who would die if they didn't eat. In the same way, Christ calls us to be innovators.
Are you willing to ask God, "What do You want me to do, that may cost my life, but I will point towards You with my last breath?"

Photos from LA

Photos from my LA trip
Here

Mosaic on mission(s)

An article about Mosaic and mission(s)
here

Erwin on discipleship

Erwin on discipleship
There is no process of discipleship outlined in Scripture
Scripture sees becoming a disciple as an eruption of transformation

Erwin on living by faith

Erwin on living by faith
When people live by faith, they act like this:

- if we can do this without God, it doesn't count
- We are supposed to hear the voice of God, instead we borrow each other sermons
- People need leaders who can speak to what they have heard in conversation with God.

He told a story later about his son and him teaching him to:
- listen to the voice
- identify who the voice was
- treat God speaking to you as a gift, nurture it, value it, obey it. If you do these things, it will be come clearer and clearer.
- if you don't obey it, God's voice will stop, and you will get to a point where you never remembered that God spoke to you, and your heart will become stone.

I've heard a lot more about this idea of late. It's both scary and exhilarating to think that the Creator of the universe has an audible voice.... and uses it to speak to us, to guide and direct us, to engage us in His purpose for the world.

Angels

Angels
This song from Hillsongs really affected me on the plane ride home for some strange reason. Images of my children just kept popping into my head, and the screaming desire to have them be passionate about Jesus just weighed heavy on my heart. I'm not usually such an emotional person, I have no idea why. It was weird. I had to play this song over and over, probably 10 times in a row. Weird. But therapeutic.

Angels
Words and Music by Marty Sampson

The holiest place there could ever be
All you can do is bow
Before the one who made heaven and earth
Before the Almighty God
For him alone

Sing with the angels
Sing with the angels
Singing the name of the lord
Singing the name of the lord

For every soul
He gave it all
Given for all of mankind
Eternal life is his alone
Given to all who believe
In him alone

Jesus

Faith Love Hope

From Origins:

v.2 faith hope love
we don't believe these 3 can transform the church
I Cor 13
Col 1
I Thes
These 3 churches were models to their communities and to other churches. How? Was there a process/model? If so, why didn't Paul write it down for us?
We have bought into a method/process/strategy
Like a CEO, seminaries are training the church CEO

Paul is trying to tell us that there is a primal instinct that erupts
Faith hope love
How did the church explode?
Maybe faith, hope and love are undersold and underbought
- live by faith
- known by love
- voice of hope
(right from the Mosaic values)

A Prophet
Erwin
Over the next few days, as I process my notes from the conference, I will be posting quotes and ideas. I'm looking forward to processing it as well as hearing from what you guys think.

Back from LA
Flew back from LA this evening. Lots of stuff....
Posting more later...

Safe Theology
McManus on a 'safe theology'

The truth of the matter is that the center of God’s will is not a safe place but the most dangerous place in the world. God fears nothing and no one. God moves with intentionality and power. To live outside of God’s will puts us in danger, to live in his will makes us dangerous.
How could we ever think the Christian faith would be safe when its central metaphor is an instrument of death? How did we ever develop a safe theology from such a dangerous faith?

Church shopping
McManus on church shopping...

"We're looking for a church that meets our needs." The phenomenon of church shoppers has profoundly shaped the contemporary church. The entire conversation is not about relevance but convenience. The focus is not in serving the world; the church itself became the focal point. This move has made the pastor the only minister, while making the members the only recipients of ministry. What is lost in this process is an army of healers touching the planet.
The cultural environment because comfortable and the gospel shifted from a church 'on mission' to a church that supported missions.

Collect the barf bags
Well I leave for LA first thing tomorrow morning. Here I am, the missions coordinator, and ironically enough, I get motion sick. And I'm not a great traveller first thing in the morning. Heck, I'm not a great anything first thing in the morning. Anyway, to the Origins conference tomorrow. It should be great once I get over the initial travelling issues...
Pray for the fam if you think of it. Everytime I travel for ministry, something very odd happens around the house. One summer it was a tornado that flipped a glass patio table. Anyway, the Enemy knows....