Imagine skipping Starbucks for a month.

Imagine downsizing your car to save money.

Imagine that money building churches in China.

Daria and Samuel are church planters near Beijing, China.  Read their story here and imagine getting a little absurd with our money.

Every team needs something to rally around.  A goal that can only be achieved together.

Winning the Championship… Earning a Top Honor… Defeating a Record

These are accomplished when a team unites, focuses on a goal and attacks it together.

Families are teams.

Just as a sports team works together, each one contributing their individual talents, your family can work together to accomplish more than you could ever ask, think or imagine.

Imagine what would happen if families viewed their world through a missional lens.  Imagine a family rallied around a cause.  Their own personal ‘Championship’ to attain.  Imagine what lengths they’ll go to build lasting, meaningful relationships.

Maybe the cause is…

…sponsoring a child through Compassion International.

…adopting a single parent family in the area.

…serving at the homeless shelter.

How would a rally point like these transform relationships within the family?  How would they transform relationships outside the family?

I read a post the other day by Dave Ferguson.  He talks about a conversation he had with Shane Claiborne.

I appreciate Dave’s candor and openness with wrestling with Shane’s thoughts.  I, too, wrestle with Shane’s ideology.

But one thing I appreciate about Shane… he lives out what he believes.  More than most Christ-followers I know.  You don’t find that often.

There are lots of us with blogs talking about what we should be doing as Christ-followers while Shane is out feeding the homeless woman on the street corner.

There are 3 things Shane warns the church about.  Commuter mentality, political neutrality and Big Church vs. Small Church.

Read the post and join the conversation.  How would you respond?

• I’ve strayed from a critical element in my ministry. Getting new butt’s in the seats. Got to stop assuming that kids will just show up. More on that later…
• I’m looking for innovative ways to train volunteers. Any thoughts?
• My friend Bob has a great opportunity for meaningful Christmas giving. Why not Give Different this year?
• I’m in the Amen corner on Scott’s post ‘Size Does Matter’.
• Is anyone kicking your butt right now? Why not? I’ve got a few people challenging my thinking. I hate it. But I need it.
• Keegan’s been sick this week. Upper respiratory infection. Please pray for him.
• I haven’t spent this much time in my pj’s since college. Kind of fun.
• Why does odor from a diaper pervade every inch of breathable space within a room?
• Celebrating Child Dedications this weekend. One of my favorite events in LifeKIDS. Why? Because it’s another opportunity to cast vision to a parent regarding the future of their family.
• I’m still trying to convince my 8-year old that he’s perfectly capable of changing a diaper. Still not working.

Have a great weekend!

I hope it sticks.  But I know that I’ll probably fall off the wagon soon.  That’s the way of addiction, right?  But with time, prayer and accountability possibly the falls off the wagon grow farther apart.  I hope.

I confess to an addiction.  Probably not the first few vices that pop in your head.  Alcohol.  Drugs.  Whipped Cream cans.  (although there was a time…  But I digress. )

My addiction is far more suttle.  And far more socially acceptable. 

I’m addicted to comfort. 

I like being comfortable. 

I like my warm clothes.  I love my bed.  My pillow and I are pretty tight.  I’m so addicted to these creature comforts that I take for granted the blessing they are. 

Yesterday it would have been a foreign thought that my bed and pillow are blessings.  Yet today I look at them entirely different.  I spent the morning serving breakfast to a group of people that don’t have such simple comfort.  It’s sobering. 

Lord, place people in my life to draw me out and keep me out of my inward-focused world!  Break this addiction in me. 

Matthew 9:38

I wonder what my body would look like if I worked harvesting a field all day.  The constant labor would probably make me physically stronger.

When working in ‘His harvest field’, I am spiritually stronger.

hmm

A great question.  But it does not refer to those who might steer you the wrong way.  Instead it refers to those who will challenge your world.

Who will ruin you?

Who will walk into your comfortable existence, give you a mirror and lead you to become uncomfortable?  Who will lead you to a more dangerous pursuit of Jesus? 

Find them quick.  There’s no time to lose.

I confess. I am the Christian Gigolo.

You know what I’m talking about. The right look. The right hair. The ‘holier-than-thou’ pick up line.

“You know, as I sat reciting Romans 6 in my prayer closet before sunrise I heard the Lord speak to me…”

I talked up the need for authenticity.

“We just gotta’ get real, man!”

I touted the necessity of real community. Yet when people shared their challenges, their struggles, their messy lives… I took a step back, gave them a wink, and shot them the classic line…

“Hey, good luck with that. I’ll be prayin’ for ya’.”

Makes me sick.

I spent Monday night at Freedom Farm. A rehab place that houses 12 guys. All have a history of drug and alcohol abuse (to start). All are facing potential prison sentences when they leave. All are followers of Christ.

Kyle and I sat and listened to these men sharing their stories. Everyone of them believes God saved them from destroying their lives, brought them to Freedom Farm where they met Jesus and are now growing in their relationship with Him. I found myself sorely convicted by the safety at which I live my life. The boundary that I set between myself and others.

Jesus, remove the boundaries!

Reading Earl Crep’s book, Off-Road Disciplines. Great read. Makes you think.

In one section, Crep’s asks some great questions for a ministry to determine “…how closely we are identifying with Christ, co-laboring with Him, being sent by Him just as He has been sent by the Father.” Here are a few that jumped out at me…

• How many spiritual conversations have we had this month with unchurched (marginalized) people?
• What would our ministry look like if the pre-Christian community had a representative with veto power on our board of directors?
• What would we say to a poor person who asked us what we have done to help the marginalized since our last meeting?

I heard someone say one time that we tend to build ministry around our personal preferences. Applying questions like these can keep us from designing ministry that fits our preferences but pursue ministry that draws us to those whom God still seeks to bring into His kingdom.