Eric Swanson

Innovation in Mission: Redefining Experts

2010-10-18T09:12:00.000-06:00

Innovation in Mission: Redefining Experts

Final Post on Blogger--I'm Moving!

2008-08-10T13:55:00.006-06:00

At the urging and help of my good friend, Jay Lorenzen, I am moving my blog to www.ericjswanson.com (http://ericjswanson.com/)--my first name, middle initial and last name). As complex as this new site is (I'm climbing the learning curve), it will allow me to store /share more content and has a bit more flexibility than blogger. Jay did a great job moving all my blogger content over to new site. Thanks to all of you have accounted for nearly 50,000 visits over the past three years. I hope to come up with / link to valuable things that will help you on your journey. God bless you!

Birthday dinner at Efrain's

2008-07-31T20:49:00.003-06:00

Nothing like a birthday dinner at Efrain's--undisputably the best Mexican restaurant on the planet with only possible contenders being from other planets or galexies! And of course, it's just not a birthday dinner without the Lambs and Wilcoxes.

We had dinner in the library where we've brought our treasures and souvenirs over the years--including one of three bound copies of my doctoral dissertation--where the odds drastically increase that someone will read it. I think we're safe on that one since over a year ago I put a crisp $20 bill within, and after checking tonight...yep it is still there!

Reek Sunday

2008-07-27T07:02:00.002-06:00

Today in Ireland there are around 25,000 pilgrims that are climbing Reek Mountain--to commemorate Patrick's time when God told him to climb to the top of this mountain and survey all that the gospel did for Ireland. This is a day when I want to think about the same thing: What have I done to advance the kingdom this past year?

As I was looking for a few facts, I came across Bill Petro's blog. Bill's a good friend from college, and a quite-good historian. Link here to see what he's written about this day. http://www.billpetro.com/2007/07/24/history-of-reek-sunday-part-1-tradition/

and

http://www.billpetro.com/2007/07/26/history-of-reek-sunday-part-2-pilgrimage/

Leadership Network Team Retreat

2008-07-22T18:45:00.003-06:00

Liz and I are in Stevenson, Washington at Skamania Lodge at a Leadership Network Retreat. LN has some great folks and it is always a kick to hang out with them. Today, during our free time some people played golf (you are never to say "golfed"....golf is something you play), some went to the spa while I and 4 others went on a two hour white water rafting trip--tons of fun.

Stockton

2008-07-17T15:38:00.005-06:00

Liz and I have been in Stockton the past couple of days--working in the mornings but hanging out with Mom and Dad in the late afternoons and evenings. This morning we went to Chuck's for breakfast. The breakfast below was eggs and cornbeef hash and hashbrown (note giant size) along w/ pancake (in place of toast). It was challenging even for me...but the type of challenge I enjoy. Chuck's is classic--it's been in the same place on Pacific Avenue since 1960--no being run by the 3rd generation.

My friend Mark

2008-07-17T15:02:00.006-06:00

Yesterday I drove down to Berkeley to have lunch with my best buddy when I was in Junior High School--Mark Tanouye (http://ecnr.berkeley.edu/facPage/dispFP.php?I=640). Mark and I played football and wrestled together at Mango Junior H.S. in Sunnyvale and for one semester at Fremont H.S. in Sunnyvale before my family moved to Stockton. Last year Mark tracked me down via Cal's alumni association and I'm so glad he did. After High School, Mark graduated from Stanford, got his Ph.D. from Yale, taught at Cal Tech before accepting a teaching job at Cal. He is currently a prof in the Biology Department along with being the assistant chair of the department. Mark has received several awards for his research and teaching and is the type of guy one just enjoys hanging out with. Here he is explaining that my genome sequence and that of the fruitfly have a 70% match--barely above 2nd cousins once removed!

Because I wanted to learn more of what Mark did, he showed me around his lab and let me in on a bit of the work he is engaged in. It was facinating. Mark and his team are currently working on chemical combinations that raise the threshold of seizure, which is fundamental for breakthroughs with people who suffer from epilepsy. In this film clip one of Mark's graduate assistants is applying an electric shock to a fruitfly in order to trigger a seizure. Oops looks like THAT drug didn't work. Mark loves his work--the work of discovery--to figure out how God has structured life.

In past times Christians were at the forefront of science, believing they were discovering, through their research, the very manner, mind and methods of God. We would do well to heed the words of Saint Augustine set in fourth century:
"If it happens that the authority of Sacred Scripture is set in opposition to clear and certain reasoning, this must mean that the person who interprets Scripture does not understand it correctly. It is not the meaning of Scripture which is opposed to the truth but the meaning he wanted to give to it."[1]

More recently the great Presbyterian theologian of the 19th century, Benjamin B. Warfield wrote:
"We must not, then, as Christians, assume an attitude of antagonism toward the truths of reason, or the truths of philosophy, or the truths of science…. None should be more quick to discern truth in every field, more hospitable to receive it, more loyal to follow it, whithersoever it leads."[2]

[1] Meachum, Jon. “The God Debate” Newsweek, April 9, 2007 p. 57
[2] Collins, Francis S. The Language of God. Free Press. New York (2006) p. 179

In 1987 Mark and his wife Ellen began a spiritual journey with Jesus Christ and a couple of years ago attended a church-planter training and helped with a church plant in Lodi. (http://www.stpaullodi.org/mod/church-staff/about.php?staff_id=100005)

Do you want to change the world?

2008-07-15T11:16:00.004-06:00

Reecently, as I've been speaking at externally focused events, I have asked those in attendance, "How many of you want to change the world?" Invariably, every hand goes up. And here's where the nickle drops; everyone wants to change the world but very few people are giving the opportunity to do so. The job of leaders...spiritual, visionary leaders, is to give everyone in their Bailiwick the opportunity to regularly engage in changing the world.

Liz and I have a son who lives in another country. When he shares his faith he tells college students, "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life and part of that plan is to help change the world." Then he tells them about the compassionate good news of Jesus and his kingdom. "What do you suppose our campus would be like if every student was a follower of Jesus?
"Our campus would be an awesome place."
"And what if everyone in our city was a follower of Jesus?"
"Well, there would be no street children...no hungry people, no homelessness...there would be jobs and people would love each other, even those who are hard to love...and our city would be awesome...and everyone in our country would want to move to our city"

What if...
...we gave people the regular opportunity to do nothing less than change the world?

Coyote Motors--buying my car around my mechanic

2008-07-11T07:05:00.007-06:00

In 1999 I bought a 1996 Mazda 626 that had 60,000 miles on it. Soon after buying it I heard some squeeking in the brakes and took it to a good mechanic friend of mine. His shop didn't work on Mazda's but he knew someone who did--Wolfgang Reitz, owner of Coyote Motors in North Boulder (303.443.3011). Shock of all $hocks, he put on new brakes for under $100....I think it was around $80. I hadn't walked out of any car repair place for under a hundred dollars in years. Since then Wolf has been my mechanic and has always done a great job and an incredibly fair price--never selling me something I didn't need. It's just the way he does business. In January when my '96 Mazda was finally getting old enough, with 173K miles on it, I started looking for another car...well, another Mazda. Sounds a bit nutty I suppose but I thought, "I've got my mechanic...I just need another car, so I'll buy my car around what is already consistently great in my life." And I found another Mazda...on Craig's List: a 1999 626 with 27,000 original miles, "driven by our grandmother to the market and back." After buying the car I aske how long it had been on Craig's List. "I pressed the enter button and you called." Liz and I donated the '96 Mazda to Good Neighbor Gargage. GNG is run by Jim Reiner of Belay Enterprises (see photos of 96 and 99 side by side). Jim is a social / spiritual entrepreneur and I need to write about him some time. GNG fixes cars and then gives them to single moms for transportation for work and life.

This past week my 99 Mazda started overheating. This was my first occasion to take it to Coyote Motors and sure enough Wolf squeezed me in, diagnosed a leaky coolant reservoir and had it repaired for cost of the part and 1/2 hour of labor! Can't beat that. Wolf reads a lot about cars and engines and is a true craftsman in what he does. He is an expert at his craft, charges a fair price, and gives you exactly (no more, no less) what one needs.

In someways our experience with mechanics is like our experience with doctors. We trust them because our lives our in their hands...well, sort of. So when a mechanic says, "Boy, I sure wouldn't drive out of the city without (fill in the blank here "getting a radiator flush," "replacing all hoses and belts," etc) what do we do. Unlike doctors, mechanics take no Hypocratic oath to first "do no harm."

After doing my taxes I blogged about Bob, my tax guy. A few days ago I blogged about Ayo--the paella guy. Taxes, cooking, fixing cars. The common theme is they love what they do and are great at doing it. So that's why I bought my car around my mechanic.

Ayo's Paella

2008-07-10T03:39:00.020-06:00

One of our favorite places to eat in the world--at least the countries we've been to is "Chiringuito de Ayo" (Ayo's Snackbar--picture grapvines for your ceiling and beach sand for the floor) on Burriana Beach in Nerja Spain. Liz and I have been to Spain on four different occassions and we always find ourselves at Ayo's. Ayo is now 70 years old and every day for nine months of the year (he spends the months of October, February and May vacationing in Cuba) he prepares 5-15 giant pans of paella, each of which contain 70-80 portions of paella.

Every day in Nerja our routine included walking down the beach, at around 2pm, to Ayo's for paella cooked over an open fire. Ayo has it down to a science, filling the pan first with a couple of bottles of olive oil, then adding the chicken, then the long-grain rice, red and green peppers, onions, garlic, whole peeled tomatoes, chicken stock, safron, spices and then finally the shrimp, clams and a few mussels. It's quite a site to behold. Ayo dishes up a huge plate of paella for 6 euros and the best thing is you can bring your plate up as many times as you want for seconds (or thirds).

The last day we were in Nerja, Liz and I packed our suitcases, checked out and walked one last time down to Ayo's. It was early for a Spanish lunch (noon) so after a couple of plates of paella we talked to Ayo about his life. He sent someone for his photo album and for the next 20 minutes walked us through some highlights of his life. He was a track star as a young man and when he was 19 he was one of the first to enter into the caves of nerja (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caves_of_Nerja) after a buddy of his discovered the small opening to the cave. These caves are incredible--occupied by humans as early as 25,000 BC and are home to some of the earliest cave paintings. Ayo and a handful of his mates guided the first archeologists into the caves and since that time have hosted kings and queens as well as world celebrities.

Why do we like Ayo's so much? I think that any time you meet a person who loves what he or she does and is so good at what they do, it merits one's attention. For the past forty years, seven days a week, Ayo has been putting on his white shirt, apron, shorts and binding rice boxes around his shins (like greaves), under futbol stockings, to protect him from the heat of the open fire and does what he does best--delighting his customers with food that they love. Take a look at the videos. I think you'll understand a bit more of what I'm writing about.

Back from Spain

2008-07-06T08:38:00.006-06:00

Our holiday in Spain was great! We rented a condo overlooking the Med on VRBO.com (Vacation Rental by Owner) from a wonderful and dear woman from who lives in LA. I'll attach a video of the view from our balcony. We couldn't think of a more spectacular and beautiful place to be.

Every day was Liz and I took a nice long walk through town, sometimes stopping for breakfast at a little cafe overlooking the Med. Then we'd go down to the beach, and go for a swim (it's amazing how boyant one is in salt water, so swiming a third of a mile was pretty easy), and then plop ourselves on beach chairs under a couple of umbrellas and read. Liz picked up some trashy Christian romance novels (e.g. "the heaving bosom of Abraham") from Church and read the usual stuff I read. Around 2pm we'd walk down to Ayo's for paella for a long lunch then back to more doing of nothing. It was great! At night we'd walk to town for dinner and just walking around. In many countries of the world, the homes are modest but the public places are spectacular, so folks dress up and meet others in town. Benches and sitting places are plentiful and people gather and talk.

One of the highlights of being in Spain was being part of the crowd that watched Spain defeat both Russia and Germany to win the Eurocup--for the first time in 44 years! The Eurocup is played every 4 years so it alternates every two years with the World Cup, which is also on a 4 year rotation. It was quite a celebration!

Stu Dodd's 50th

2008-06-20T11:02:00.002-06:00

Last night Liz and I went to Chautaqua Park to help Stuart Dodds celebrate his 50th birthday. It was really a great time and if you know Stu and Carol and were not able to attend, you would have loved it. Carol did a very nice job planning the event--chips and guac under the apple tree as guests arrived...enchiladas for dinner and afterwards sitting around the Greer's living room (Carol's folks have owned a bungaloe in Chautaqua for years) telling funny stories about Stu--and there were a bunch of them as well as how much we appreciated Stu. Stuart came into our lives in 1981 after being cut by the San Diego Chargers...and then picked up by the Steelers, he turned down the opportunity to play football to join Campus Crusade staff at University of Colorado where Liz and I and John and Nancy Lamb were on directing the ministry. He went from CU to direct the work at Denver University for a number of years before launching the campus ministry in Costa Rica and raising up national staff. Since then, he has returned to the campus ministry where he and Carol continue their impact--even after a bout with cancer.

All the people in the picture have been touched by Stuart (he's the tallest one in the picture--used to have the same dimensions as Magnum PI (6'4"--215 lbs) but now is 10 pounds leaner.

Thanks for the life well-lived Stu. The best years are still ahead of you.

Transforming a City—Urban-Suburban, Working Together

2008-06-17T06:53:00.002-06:00

For the past few days I’ve been revisiting the book of Nehemiah—the quintessential manual for community transformation. Most likely this has been discovered before but I’m seeing it for the first time so it is fresh for me. The first observation is that those who rebuilt and restored the city of Jerusalem were not just those who lived in Jerusalem but were from the surrounding communities—the suburbs.
3:2 “The men of Jericho built the adjoining section…” Jericho was 18 miles NE of Jerusalem—about the same distance Boulder is from Denver.
3:5 “The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa…” Tekoa was 12 miles South of Jerusalem.
3:7 “Next to them, repairs were made by men from Gibeon and Mizpah…” Gibeon was 6 miles NW of Jerusalem; Mizpah was 4 miles West of Jerusalem.
3:13 “The Valley Gate was repaired by Hanun and the residents of Zanoah…” Zanoah was 10 miles West of Jerusalem.
3:16 “…ruler of the half-district of Beth Zur…” Beth Zur was 4 miles North of Jerusalem.
3:22 “The repairs next to him were made by the priests from the surrounding region.” The surrounding region was…well….the surrounding region.

Why would people from the suburbs expend their labor on the city? Most likely they were of the persuasion that in the walled city was their welfare. As Jerusalem prospered they, in the suburbs, would benefit from its prosperity.

The second thing I saw in chapter 3 was the mishmash (not to be confused with the biblical city Micmash of Nehemiah 7:31) of workers.
“Eliashib the high pries and his fellow priest went to work and rebuilt the Sheepgate…” 3:1
“Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired the next section…” 3:8
“…Hananiah, one of the perfume-makers made repairs next to that.” 3:8
“Rephaiah…ruler of a half-district of Jerusalem repaired the next section.” 3:9
“Shallum…ruler of a half-district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section with the help of his daughters.” 3:12
“The Dung Gate (think about the servant-heart these people must’ve had!) was repaired by Malkija…ruler of the district of… 3:14
“The Fountain Gate was repaid by Col. Hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah.” 3:15
Beyond him, Nehemiah son of Azbuk, ruler of a half-district of…made repairs…” 3:16
“…Ezer son of Joshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section…” 3:19
“The repairs next to him were made by the priests from the surrounding region.” 3:22
“…and the temple servants…made repairs…” 3:26
“…the priests made repairs, each in front of his own house.” 3:28
“Malkija, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs…. 3:31
“…the goldsmiths and merchants made repairs. 3:32

It takes all kinds of people to restore a city—pastors, families, government officials, the business community, craftsmen…all kinds of people.

On May 31st of this year, my own church, Calvary Bible of Boulder engaged in its fifth year of Sharefest. This year 34 churches worked on 34 different sites around Boulder County and north Denver. Families and business people, government officials, teachers and pastors all pitch in to make a sustainable difference in the community. Here is the write-up of the broadcast from Channel 9 News in Denver. (http://www.9news.com/news/education/article.aspx?storyid=92798&catid=129)

DENVER - If cleanliness is next to Godliness, then Kevin Snyder might be one of many angels working from Boulder to Denver trying to shine buildings back into shape days into summer break. Sharefest brings thousands of volunteers to clean schools

"There's graffiti and tape on the outsides of these lockers," said Snyder, part of the 75 person cleaning crew at East High School in Denver. "It's obvious they haven't been cleaned maybe 3, 4, maybe 5 years. There's a Kerry-Edwards sticker inside one." Snyder is one of more than 3,500 volunteers working with Sharefest. Sharefest is a community service campaign started five years ago by the Calvary Bible Church in Boulder. This year, members of more than 30 churches are cleaning facilities for non-profits, Boulder Valley Schools and East High in Denver. "It's been a heck of a lot of fun doing this," said Snyder. "This is a beautiful, beautiful building."

"Sharefest is a way for churches in our community to come together as one," said Angie Hendricks, site leader at East High. "And, that's our goal, too, is just to come together as one body and to break those boundaries." Hendricks says there's a real reward in helping school districts and non-profit groups who are always struggling for money.

"We know they're under-funded," said Hendricks. "We know they work so hard."
Lafayette Rockette is the facilities manager for East High School. Rockette says the volunteer crew at his school saved his staff hours upon hours of extra work. "It was just great, just great," said Rockette. "You know, I could hug them all. Just give them all a big hug for what they did – just more than wonderful."

The crews did more than clean. They did minor construction, painting, landscaping and repairs. At East High, the home of the Angels, volunteers painted the school logo and colors in the coaches' training room. "It was just another Angel moment done by angels," said Rockette.
Organizers estimate for the first four years of Sharefest, volunteers contributed more than $1 million worth of labor and materials. "We're really here to serve Jesus Christ, that's our deal," said Adam Pitale, volunteer, while staring at the new East Angels logo. "Ironic."
That's why Snyder comes back to volunteer year after year. He does this for the schools and for the people. But, most of all, he does it for God. "Church is not a bunch of people coming in on Sunday and for the rest of the week going about their everyday business, never being concerned with what's going on around them," said Snyder. "This is church for us and that's why it's important."
(Copyright KUSA*TV, All Rights Reserved)

Mixed Taste--Tag Team Lectures on Unrelated Topics

2008-06-13T06:17:00.008-06:00

Last night Liz and I went with two young couples down to Belmar Lab ( http://www.belmarlab.org/) to hear the second of "Tag Team Lectures on Unrelated Topics" as part of a summer program called "Mixed Taste." Last week Liz and I went to hear Silent Films and Counterfeit Currency. Last night's topics were "Soda Pop," by Adrian Miller and "Extreme Death Rituals of Borneo" by Christine Kreps, assistant professor of Anthropology at Denver University. The evening started with a light buffet and drinks at 6pm followed by a brief introduction to the evening. Each speaker was given 30 minutes to present his or her topic. This was followed by 30 minutes of Q&A to both speakers. Questions that could find the intersections between the topics are exceptionally valuable. Adrian gave the history of soda pop. Soda is from the carbonation and "pop" comes from the sound when a carbonated bottle was uncorked. Very interesting stuff; Dr. Pepper was named after the father of a girl a young chemist was courting (they never married). Adrian is assistant deputy director to Governor Bill Ritter and is also writing a book on the history of soul food. Last month, a buddy of mine went out for soul food with Adrian at one of Denver's best soul food restaurants. He was also gracious enought to join us at our New Year's Eve dinner / party. He is a delighful man with a great sense of humor.

Christine started by saying that death rituals are important because life is very short and death is very long. After the event several of us joined the speakers and program hosts a block away at the Oven for pizza. Next week's topics are Maya Astronomy and Stanley Kubrick.

Starting a Nonprofit at Your Church

2008-06-08T19:19:00.002-06:00

A couple months ago... Joy Skjegstad, recognizing that we connected around externally focused churches, contacted me asking me to review her book, Starting a Nonprofit at Your Church (with a forward by Mary Nelson). Today I finished the book and the one word that came to my mind was the word, "Stop!" If you are thinking about starting a 501(c)(3) from your church or independently this book is a "must read." Joy writes from the strength of serving as Executive Director of a nonprofit for 5 years and is more than well-versed in the ins and outs of nonprofits. Often I am asked about the benefits of beginning a ministry, or spinning off a ministry into a separate nonprofit organization. Until I find something better, this book will be my "go to" book that folks should read as they ponder the question, "Should we?" or "shouldn't we?"

Joy gives us a complete book that includes evaluative questions, forms, legal issues, pay guidelines, the role of various types of boards etc. There is nothing one needs to start a 501(c)(3) that is not included in this fabulous little gem. The book is available from Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Starting-Nonprofit-Church-Institute-Publication/dp/1566992656/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212975508&sr=8-1

Inaugural Books & Brew

2008-06-07T07:14:00.003-06:00

Friday afternoon we kicked off the first of 6 Summer Books & Brew gatherings. The fellas showed up starved gobbling down hot wings, meatballs, sausages, chips and salsa, taquitos. Best of all we got to hear from John Lamb, who unpacked his doctoral dissertation on Celtic spirituality for all of us. Next week we'll begin discussing what each of us are reading.

We had a lot of rain this week and Colorado has really greened up--just beautiful.

Montserrat Monastery

2008-06-01T04:40:00.009-06:00

I'm on my way home from four days of Campus Crusade's "Global City Movements" meetings at the beautiful Benedictine monastery in Montserrat, a short drive from Barcelona. For over a thousand years pilgrims have come to these mountains and stayed in the caves or the basilica, built in the 1500s. It is a place of extreme beauty and wonder. This was a very productive time hosted by Bob and Sandy Varney with participants from Europe, India, Africa and America--very good people...friends old and new. Bob put together a creative 3 days of interaction around the major questions around city and community transformation. It was very encouraging to hear of some incredibly innovative things these folks were doing. Mark Visvasum, from Chenai, India, for example has been working together with many of the 2,500 churches of Chenai. Although this city has seen tremendous growth of the church...with some estimates as high as 30% believers, the problems have grown ten-fold. Through Chenai Transformation Network (chennaictn@gmail.com)-- comprised of pastors, business leaders, parachurches and social service leaders, the churches identified over 45k people living on the streets of Chenai....sometimes for generations. The Catholic and Protestant churches of Chenai are adopting blocks of the city to care for these street dwellers--providing food and access to hospitals for medical care. They have identified 17k streets of Chenai and are talking of planting churches on every one of them.

Apart from the stimulating people and discussions, we shared all of our meals at set times, served by the monks of the monestary. This is not a public hotel but we stayed under a special arrangement, with each of us having a small, private room with a common bathroom down the hall. Each of us was given a napkin at our first meal with a numbered napkin ring, indicating that we were to use the same napkin for all 12 meals that we shared around the common table. The walking trails around the monastery were spectacular for nordic stick walking (yes I squeezed them into my suitcase). It's been a great time.

Part of the tension the church and CCC faces at this time is expressed by the painting that hangs in the dining hall (refectory) of Montserrat. A woman is in need of help...physical help. As one merciful fellow moves towards her, his companions stand at a distance and seem to be saying, "Let someone else help her--our focus is on the spiritual." It's always good to remember that the gospel is such good news that it is thick enough to encompass both words and works--compassionate deeds and passionate proclamation. Afterall we are not gnostics nor athiests, denying the physical or the spiritual.

http://www.panoramicearth.com/843/Barcelona/Montserrat

Memorial Day

2008-05-26T21:57:00.004-06:00

Today we honor Liz's father, Capt. Malcom R. Stanford who received the Bronze Star for Bravery fighting in the Philippines with the 187th Infantry Regiment "Rakkasan" as the commander of "G" Company in Phillipines(Luzon). . We also honor my living dad, Signalman 1st Class with the USN during WWII in the South Pacific and my son, Jeff who fought in our present war in Iraq. Jeff and Ashlie ran the Bolder Boulder road race today (along w/ 50,000 others) and ended up in the CU Stadium. I was proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Jeff as together we saluted the colors (I was in the US Army Reserves) as our National Anthem was sung.

"God has come to help his people"

2008-05-22T05:29:00.002-06:00

Just reflecting on son Andy 's words and our time in Malaysia. I'm not sure if I mentioned it or not but one church, SIB (http://www.sibkl.org.my/htm/home.htm) will have all 103 of their cell groups engaged in community ministry on a monthly basis. In times when pain is prevelant in a community, as it currently in China and Myanmar, it is when the people of God become the hands and feet of Jesus and people intuitively say, "God has come to help his people" (Luke 7:16). To love and serve in times of distress helps people know that he "loves them just as much as he loves his own son" (John 17:23). God bless all those who help, love and serve.

Mobilized for Sichuan--Prayer requested

2008-05-22T05:10:00.002-06:00

The Action of the Call by Andy Swanson

By now I’m sure you’ve heard of the devastation the earthquake in China has caused among the countless numbers of people here. Thousands upon thousands of lives lost, even more injured and millions left homeless. The physical toll is surpassed only by the psychological anguish that radiates from the southern province of Sichuan and touches every heart in China. This past Monday at 2:28 pm, the entire nation stood in 3 minutes of silence mourning the lost lives and hoping for more news of miraculous rescues. Cries of pain and help have gone out from the hearts of the people here and have reached the ears of our compassionate and loving God who is, and has been, calling his people to rise up to offer food, clothing, water, homes and comfort to those in need.

A bright spot in the midst of the tragedy has been the response of the Chinese people and the government to the earthquake victims. For the first time, the government has allowed full coverage of the earthquake and the aftermath, and the people have responded in overwhelming ways. A huge grass roots humanitarian effort sprung up immediately after the quake in the form of thousands of ordinary Chinese with carloads of blankets and instant noodles driving into the villages that were accessible with their goods. For a week now, thousands of people have lined up outside of blood banks to donate blood, and the Red Cross of China has reported its largest donations ever in the quake‘s aftermath. Our students too have all given blood and money and have been praying for the people in Sichuan.

God has opened a door for us and our students to go to Sichuan to help in whatever ways we can. We have put together a team, God has provided ample funding, and we are now just waiting for the green light to go from the relief organizers in Chengdu. We want to ask you, starting today, to seriously pray with us for the people in Sichuan. Their hearts are crushed and many are without hope. Please pray that God would speak His words of comfort and hope through us and that He would do what He always does- bring Life from death. We mourn with the Chinese, and we ask that you would join us in crying out to God on their behalf.

We will keep you updated, and we are thankful for your love and prayers for the people here.

Love,
Andy, Natalie and Jenda Swanson

Who Does God Use? Loving God and Loving Neighbor

2008-05-22T04:52:00.003-06:00

A Call to Action by Andy Swanson

In a time of Plague, Draught, Famine, or Natural disaster, Christians throughout history have taken care of each other as well as taken care of their non-believing friends and relatives. During these times, having a Christian friend meant that your survival rate was more than three times that of a non-believer with no Christian friends.[1]
Luke 10:25-37

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"
"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'
"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Loving Your Neighbor
An expert in the Law asked Jesus how he could inherit eternal life. The answer in the Law is summed up by loving the Lord and loving your neighbor. According to the parable of the Good Samaritan, two Lovers of “God,” the Priest and the Levite, did not love their neighbor, the wounded man on the side of the road. Instead in this parable, the one who loved his neighbor, the one who showed mercy to his neighbor, was an outsider, a nonbeliever, a sinner, a Samaritan.

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 1 John 3:16-20

God has chosen and commissioned his church to be his body, his hands and feet, to serve and comfort the poor needy hurting people of the world, to love with actions and in truth. He has given us his authority to preach the good news and make disciples. Matt. 28:18-20 His purpose is to redeem the world and use his church to do it. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. 2 Corinthian 5:20

This is our job and role in ushering in the kingdom of God, but what happens when the people of God do not obey or do what God tells them to? Is God trapped if believers do not do his will and are not obedient in serving him through being his witnesses to the world, taking care of the poor and needy, acting justly and loving mercy? God gives his church, his followers, many chances to obey and accomplish his will, but if the believers do not respond, He will choose to work through others, through the Samaritans, the nonbelievers and sinners to accomplish his will and be glorified throughout the earth. Romans 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."

Jeremiah 27:5-6 With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. Now I will hand all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him.

We know that God used Pharaoh as an enemy of God to display his power. But God also used other Pagan Kings to do his will and bring judgment upon his people and other nations for their failure to love God and Neighbor. King Nebuchadnezzar was used to carry out God’s will and judgment on the people of Judah even though he did not believe in the Lord or give him glory until many years later. Daniel 4:37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.

Sodom is one of the most well known evil cities in the Bible. It is constantly referred to as being a horrible Godless place. So what was Sodom’s sin, why was it so horrible? The people of Sodom did not love their neighbor.

" 'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. Ezekiel 16:49

Jesus was about God’s glory and loving people, his neighbors. His mission “The spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me… because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Luke 4:18-19 /Isaiah 61

When God’s chosen people, the church, stop being the body of Christ by not loving their neighbors, God chooses to use the Samaritans and sinners of the world make his name known and to save the week and oppressed. God will still get glory, but the church will be judged and will not be blessed. There is also another interesting thing happens, the people who are looked down upon by the “church” or not allowed into the church for being sinners and nonbelievers begin to be recognized and called “People of God.” When the church refuses to do the work of the church, God chooses others.

As he says in Hosea: "I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one,” and, "It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'” Romans 9:25-26

Love the Lord
Many will say that the reason the people of the church can often neglect loving their neighbors is because they are too busy doing the best thing, loving God and serving him. “We don’t have time to do everything so we must prioritize by spending most of our time loving God, going to church, praying, reading the bible and fellowshipping with other believers.”

Look at the parable of the Good Samaritan. The Priest and Levite were working as Servants of the Lord. They were busy, like many Christians, loving God. They were probably both good people who were willing to help as long as it didn’t interfere with their jobs or lives. They may have said a prayer or asked for God’s blessing for the man as they passed by, but they knew that if they stopped to help their “neighbor,” this bloody dirty person who probably was a bad man who most likely deserved this punishment anyway, they would be late for church or have to miss church all together that day or maybe for 2 or 3 days. These “servants of the Most High” weren’t bad people, they just understood that they had responsibilities and could not sacrifice the “work of God” to help some stranger.

John 14:21, 23-24
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."
Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
How do we love Jesus? We obey his commands.

1 John 2:3-6 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

How do we know we know and are in Jesus? We obey his commands and walk and as Jesus did.
1 John 3:16-20 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

If during a crisis Christians fulfilled their ideal of ministering to everyone, there would be many pagan survivors who owed their lives to Christian neighbors.[2]

Matthew 25:31-46
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

When all normal services break down, quiet elementary nursing will greatly reduce mortality. Simple provision of food and water for instance, will allow persons who are temporarily too weak to cope for themselves to recover instead of perishing miserably.[3]

Who really loves the Lord? Those who obey Jesus and love the least through feeding them, giving them something to drink, inviting them in, clothing them, visiting them. ‘Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

John 21:15-17
15When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs."
16Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."
17 The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Feed my sheep.”

Today there are some 100 million hungry children in the world who get virtually no assistance. We have calculated that it would cost around $5 billion a year to provide them and their mothers with a basic package of food, nutrition and health care [4]. Right now there are hundreds of thousands of people dying from lack of food and basic medical care. There are people who are being oppressed pushed around because they don’t know their rights, they have no one to defend them. People are dying everyday without knowing the saving grace of Jesus.

Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up ad judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy-Prov 31:8-9

Now, we must all fear evil men. But there is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men.[5]

So here is the question: How are we loving God and our neighbor? Do we love the least of these? Can we be men and women of prayer and faith lived out through action? Can we be God’s hands and feet and change the world, or are we going to sit back and watch God choose someone else?
Why don’t we start right now and begin to pray for God to use us now and here where we are. Let us lead the way in our Campuses and Work places. Let us communicate to the world that God wants to show them his love. Let us begin to give right now to feed the starving children in Africa, Asia and around the world. $.25 can feed someone for a day. Can we organize our classmates and coworkers to each feed one starving child a day? Can we go and serve in the ravaged, broken hells of this world? Christians need to lead the way so that we can communicate the love of God in order to bring heaven to these hells. Our job is not just be good people. Don’t wait for God to choose someone else. He is calling the church. He is calling you.
Jesus is asking YOU: “Do YOU Love Me?”… “Feed my sheep.”
“Do YOU Love Me?”… “Take care of my sheep.”
“Do YOU Love Me?”… “Feed my sheep.”

Who can help the 2 million cyclone victims facing disease and starvation in Burma? Who can help the homeless hopeless people of the Si Chuan earthquake?
“Who will help them? Who will help them?”- A Sichuan woman cried out after seeing her apartment building collapse with her mother and 5 month old baby inside.
Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? Isaiah 6:8
Christians in Burma are working to assist survivors of the cyclone.

A local believer said this:
"I believe that as we bring relief assets to the orphanages and churches with whom we are partners, we will not only be helping them but also providing them with the necessary resources to impact their immediate communities with the tangible love of Jesus. In the end, I believe that the church will shine in this dark hour and that the Kingdom of God will be advanced in this nation."

Here are two places to give to help our neighbor, to feed and clothe Jesus. You can help right now.

香港 For the Hungry International Hong KongBox No. 60104Tsat Tsz Mui Post OfficeHong Kong Phone: (852) 2560-6364Fax: (852) 2560-6064 E-mail:mailto:info@fhhk.org
联合国世界粮食计划署http://www.wfp.org.cn/ world food program

[1] The Rise of Christianity- pg 92
[2] Rise of Christianity pg. 90
[3] Rise of Christianity pg. 88
[4] Still Dying of Hunger, More Can Be Done to Ease the Toll on Children and Countries. By James T. Morris. Thursday, May 25, 2006; Page A29
[5] Boondock Saints quote

Malaysia Epilogue

2008-05-20T20:40:00.007-06:00

After the banquet and saying our good-byes Sam and I were chauferred the four hour drive down to the Singapore airport--arriving around 3:30am in plenty of time for our 7:15 flight to Tokyo...then Seattle then Denver. Our Malaysian friends gave us a couple of gifts--an engraved peuter plate and a handcrafted Maylasian jewlry stand for the wives that Sam and I had to open for security and to travel. Of course we gave our wives gifts the very best treatment on the way home.

Sam and I have had some great trips over the past 20 years but we have never experienced such consistent and gracious hospitality. Thanks Richard, Piek See, and Richard.

Malaysia Day 8

2008-05-19T03:47:00.009-06:00

Today we had a wonderful Externally Focused Conference in Kaula Lumpur. Around 250 pastors and leaders met from 9-3 today (a public holiday) to hear Sam and me talk about externally focused church and community transformation. One church leader said starting in June their 100 cell groups will engage their communities with kingdom kindness.

There are a number of reasons Sam and I are impressed with the importance and strategic place Malaysia may have for the world. First, it is a very prosperous country. I think we've all seen pictures of the Petronas Twin Towers--the two tallest buildings in the world from 1998-2004. Last night we went out to dinner and saw them up close! Wow--stainless steel and glass and a real work of art. Second, Malaysia is a multi-cultural, multi-linguistic and multi-religious country--which may be a precursor to what most nations will be in 50 years. Malaysia is small enough (~28m) that it can serve as a laboratory for kingdom transformation. And what works here can spread to all of Asia. Because one of the common languages is English it is easier to travel and make a contribution here. And last (as if we haven't said it enough) Sam and I are thoroughly impressed with Richard, Simon and Piek See. They are very well connected and have a passion / talent for this type of work. They have also introduced us to

a number of pastoral, NGO and business leaders. This evening we will attend a graduation banquet for those who have completed the Million Leaders Mandate training. Everything is so well organized. One other thing, we are very impressed with the worship of this country. Every worship team is passionate and talented. The banquet this evening was saved to be the best for last--over 800 people including business and political leaders showed up to see their friends and family graduate from the leadership classes. Richard even took a love gift offering of over U$ 5K for the people of Myanmar. Pretty amazing.

Maylaysia Days 5-7

2008-05-18T02:14:00.009-06:00

After leaving Kuala Lumpor to meet for lunch with a group of pastors in Melaka, Friday on the west coast, we then drove 2.5 hours to a city of 250,000 called Kluang. The city was delightful. Our first stop was at the Rail Cafe, the downtown version of the historic coffee stop at the railway station that has been serving great coffee, toast and softboiled eggs to rail passengers since 1938. The most interesting thing about this 3rd generation landmark is that it is run by committed believers who have produced generations of pastors and committed believers. After settling in our hotel (without Internet) we had dinner at Barney's Pizza with a bunch of pastors. Barney is part of the coffee family who lived in San Diego and involved in Calvary Chapel.

One of the great folks we met was Jit who is the youth pastor of the Agape Presbyterian Church. Jit was on Wayne Cordiero's staff for 15 years at New Hope Church in Honolulu. He has 400 youth from the community playing sports every Saturday and has a great vision for community transformation. Sam and I hung out with him until 1:30am this morning talking ministry.

On Saturday 250 folks from Kluang showed up for the 9:00-4:00 Externally Focused Church / Community Transformation conference and then another 400 showed up for the Million Leaders Mandate graduation dinner. Of course it was a great dinner. Malyasian food is a combination of Malay food, Indian food and Chinese food. Sam and I feel totally bloated but we're hardly complaining.

This morning after coffee and toast and a local dish at the original Rail Cafe, we drove back to Kuala Lumpor and met at TGIF's for lunch with Teresa Kok, a Christian Parliment member who was re-elected to her third term. Richard spoke of what he and the team were doing with Marketplace Leadership Center and Million Leaders Mandate as well as what they are trying to do with externally focused churches and nation building. It was really one of those divine apointments as Teresa talked openly about the needs of the people and how the church could help. She told how as a young school girl, as part of her Catholic education, she and other youth went and lived among the poor of Malaysia. It was there she decided she wanted a career in public service. When we talked about mobilizing cell groups in missional ministry, she said theat 50 such groups could change the city!

So our days here just get better. Malaysia is in a very unique position in the world. It is one of those countries that is racially, religiously and linguistically diverse that is small enough where believers can really make a kingdom difference for all peoples. And Sam and I feel that the three key leaders (Richard, Simon and Pic See) who will train 2500 leaders around the country in the next few years, are setting the stage for God to do something special in this country.

Malaysia Day 4

2008-05-15T05:55:00.004-06:00

Things just get better. The pastors' lunch today in Kuantan was attended by 30 pastors / leaders each eager to hear more about being externally focused. They were excited as they began to envision how they could love and serve their community with good deeds and good news. The team that has brought Sam and me here to Malaysia is an incredible group. I don't think I've ever worked with three leaders with more capacity than these three people--Richard Rajoo, Simon Locke, and Ooi Piek See (Pixie)--all come from extremely successful careers in the business world but find changing lives much more exciting. Each week they drive over a thousand miles to train leaders. They visit every city they work in two times each month. It's no wonder leaders are so responsive to what they do. They are incredibly connected. This evening for dinner we are meeting with the president of a university, a Deputy Director General of Government and the Exectutive Director of a major non-profit organization.

Malaysia Day 3

2008-05-14T10:33:00.007-06:00

This morning we flew from Alor Star down to Kuala Lumpur and met up with a long-time friend Geoff Gorsuch. Geoff and I were new campus ministry directors at the University of Colorado back in 1976--he with the Navigators and I with Campus Crusade. Geoff flew up from Singapore to hang out for a couple of days. We ate at a Texas barbecue place for lunch and then drove to the East Coast to the city of Kuantan. After checking into the hotel, we drove to tonight's meeting venue--Over 400 people from twelve or more churches showed up for dinner and the meetings. It was quite amazing and Sam and I sense that God is doing something special in Malaysia. Richard said they told the pastors of the city that this was going to be "the year of externally focused." Simply amazing.

Tomorrow we'll meet w/ the pastors of Kuantan. They have been in Million Leaders Mandate training for just a couple of months but are eager to learn more.

Malaysia Day 2

2008-05-13T01:03:00.007-06:00

Day 2 is off to a good start. We started at 8:30 with worship and then Sam spoke for a couple of hours on "To Transform a City." Sam was at his best. This is the pattern that we will use throughout our time here. I will be speaking on externally focused church and Sam will take the city material. After the session ended we broke for lunch with a group of pastors--a great time of fellowship and always a delight. One of the three pastors who hosted this event is Kuilan Suppiah from Trinity Baptist Church here in Alor Star. His church is very externally focused with a childcare program of over 1000, a home for elderly, another home for disabled children. He told Sam and me that recently they took a team to one of the indigines tribes and installed two toilets and a washroom. Good deeds created good will and good will paved the way for good news with many coming to faith.

The day only got better. Sam and I showed up in the hotel ballroom for the graduation exercises for whose who had completed the first year of John Maxwell's Million Leaders Mandate curriculum. Simon and Ratna Locke, Richard Rajoo a Ooi Piek See have done a stellar job, flying up twice a month to Alor Star training these folks. Everything about the banquet was awesome--seven course meal--the worship group--lead by Mjr. John, fighter pilot for royal malaysian airforce, who after leading some powerful worship music broke into John Denver's "Country Roads" and had the people singing alon. Sam turned and said to me, "It doesn't get better than this." I'll post more pics and video when i have more time. have to catch the plane.

Malaysia

2008-05-12T02:49:00.008-06:00

Sam Williams and I are in Malaysia for the next week or so doing a number of externally focused church conferences. Lots of cool stuff happening already. Malaysia is a country of 27 million people and a 60% Muslim population with a mere 9% of Christians believers really have to live differently to make their light shine. We will be speaking at 4 externally focused conferences.

I know we got one thing right... We followed Jesus example and "ate the Col's" (Luke 1) for lunch. It was great. Malaysians love to see thier guests put away the groceries. Sam and I just hope we still fit into the shirts they gave us to wear tomorrow night.

The first session went well...and didn't end until 10:45 pm, which, they explained was quite typical. Nearly 190 showed up in Alor Star for our opening two sessions on EFC. Sam will finish with two messages on city reaching...then lunch w/ pastors and a banquet tomorrow evening. We returned to our hotel rooms to find a great fruit basket (with very exotic fruit) along w/ a few other treats. Our hosts have been more than gracious and are a kick to hang out with. They really see externally focused churches as integral to all they are trying to do.

College Graduation

2008-05-09T21:19:00.004-06:00

Today was a big day for our family. Jeff graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder and Kacey graduated from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley. We started with Jeff's graduation at the CU Stadium and then went to the Glen Miller Ballroom for his department celebration. Although Ashlie officially graduated in December, she donned her cap and gown for the event. We couldn't be more proud of the both of them. It's been a long haul for them with Jeff being gone to Iraq and all. They both put themselves through school and graduated with honors. Of course grandson Gentry had to run around like Ralphie the Buffalo.

We're also so proud of Kacey graduating from Northern Colorado. She has been such a joy and yesterday was no exception. She has worked hard, and also worked her way through school since she and Erik were married. Liz and I just basqued (or is it basked...I know we're not from the Pyrenese region) in the day that we've had.

Competition and Collaboration

2008-05-08T09:06:00.003-06:00

Last Sunday on the Wally Park bus from the airport to the parking lot I read the following story in a 2-day old USA Today. I'm sure its been on the blogosphere and on Youtube but I wanted to capture it here. The story is about a young woman softall player from Western Oregon University. It is worth the read....or watch this video
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/video?id=3380875

Home run hitter gets lift from opponents
Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University did something Saturday she had never done in high school or college. Her first home run cleared the center-field fence Saturday in a softball game in Ellensburg, Wash. But it appeared to be the shortest of dreams come true when she missed first base, started back to tag it and collapsed with a knee injury.
She crawled to first but could do no more. The first-base coach said she would be called out if her teammates helped her. Or, the umpire said, a pinch-runner could be called in and the homer would count as a single.
Then members of the Central Washington University team stunned spectators by carrying Tucholsky around the bases so the three-run homer would count — contributing to their elimination from the playoffs.
When the umpire said there was no rule against it, Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace put their arms under Tucholsky's legs and she put her arms over their shoulders. The three headed around the bases, stopping to let Tucholsky touch each base with her uninjured leg.
"Mallory asked me which leg was the one that hurt," Tucholsky said. "I told her it was my right leg, and she said, 'OK, we're going to drop you down gently and you need to touch it with your left leg,' and I said, 'OK, thank you very much.' "
Tucholsky's injury, a possible torn ligament, will sideline her for the rest of the season. Western Oregon won 4-2. (From: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/sports/20080501/c13_update01.art.htm ) Photo from USA Today.

I think there is a lesson here regarding the new possibilities when we go beyond competition to collaboration...... I've got to think about the implications of this.

Externally Focused Conference Day 2

2008-05-08T08:55:00.004-06:00

The Externally Focused Conference was a delight for me. As solid as each of the plenary, breakout and intensive speakers were, I think many folks would say the conference was great because of the people in the room--who they got to hang out with at the breaks, meals...and while talks were going on. Think about it...Rick McKinley, Robert Lewis, Amy Sherman, Don Simmons, Jack Jezreel, Alvin Bibbs, Laurie Beshore, Rick Rusaw, et al...and that doesn't include the passionate attendees.

Hannah Beck

2008-05-06T07:22:00.003-06:00

After the conference Liz and I joined Robert Lewis at the Becks. Hannah Beck played this beautiful Celtic piece on the front porch.

Externally Focused Conference Day 1

2008-05-06T07:21:00.002-06:00

The first day of the Externally Focused Church Conference was great. On Sunday night we had a bunch of speakers and friends over dinner--brisket and chicken that Don Wilcox put cooked since I was just returning from Houston late on Sunday afternoon.

Our two plenary speakers, Alvin Bibbs of Willow Creek and Rick McKinley from Imago Dei were just great. This was preceded by five pre-conference intensives (of 3.5 hours each) where participants could go deeper in one area. I taught Becoming an Externally Focused Church, Doug Pollock led the charge on Irresistible Evangelism, Amy Sherman on Going Deeper, Don Simmons on Volunteers and Jack Jezreel on Mercy and Justice. Great feedback on all sessions.

The Celtic Knot of Spiritual Journey

2008-04-30T07:52:00.003-06:00

Last August Liz and I journeyed with some good friends to Ireland and Scotland taking a class called “The Celtic Trail.” Of course it was a great time of learning, discovery and surprise. Before and since the class I’ve read several books on early Celtic Christianity—introduced through Patrick in the early 400’s. Celtic Christianity thrived, almost as an entity unto itself until the leaders were reigned in by the Roman Church leaders at the Synod of Whitby in the mid 600s, but being island communities the Celtic Christians adopted but never lost their unique flavor of the faith. For the Celts, Christianity did not have the pomp of the Roman Empire. Christ was personal. Jesus met them in the smallest and most routine task of life. They were very much Trinitarian in their beliefs and there is strong evidence that Patrick did indeed use the Shamrock to help explain the mystery of the Trinity.

Quoting from Ian Bradley in The Celtic Way, “The Celts saw the Trinity as a family…For them it showed the love of that lay at the very heart of the Godhead and the sanctity of family and community ties. Each social unit, be it family, clan or tribe, was seen as an icon of the Trinity, just as the hearthstone in each home was seen as an altar. The intertwining ribbons of the Celtic knot represented in simple and graphic terms the doctrine of perichoresis—the mutual interpenetration of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

I think, for most of us, our Christian training has been of the 101, 201, 301 stair-steps of spiritual maturity. As we mature we just become better and better. Other Christian faith traditions portray the Christian life to be more like a journey. A couple of years ago, a Lutheran pastor, Peter Morin (Faith Lutheran in Golden, CO) shared that the one thing he remembered from his seminary training is (and then he drew the infinity sign) “the journey inward and the journey outward.” That resonated with me. The Christian life is not so much about getting better and better (after all, who could really stand us then!??!?!?) but rather a journey inward to renew and the journey out to expend ourselves on a world in need.

Here’s where I’m going with this; I’d thinking Peter’s diagram could be well-augmented with the help of the Celtic knot—simply because our journey also includes people! So now let’s think of three words—Contemplative…Community…Cause. Our “contemplative” life is our devotional / reflective life where we connect with the living Jesus. “Community” are those like-minded souls with whom we journey. “Cause” is our mission in the world. So we journey between contemplation, community and cause—renewing ourselves in Christ, refreshing ourselves in community and expending ourselves on the world. This was indeed the flow of the Celts. Unlike other monastic communities who were big on contemplation and community, but lacking in mission, the Celtic church sent out missionaries to spread the gospel from their monastic communities like Iona and Lindesfarne. But the blessing as they went forth implied that they would return—“May he bring you home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you.” Christ would always be on their left and on their right, above and below them, in the heart of all they spoke to. Yea, I guess their lives were magically delicious.

I think the diagram to express this journey is uniquely Celtic. When I was thinking about this last week, I sketched a Venn (three overlapping circle) diagram…but it was all wrong. It was three separate entities. It was static. There was no journey. The Celtic knot represents the three-fold journey inward, withward and outward.

One more thing—a couple of years ago Geoffrey Hsu, Campus Crusade guy who was part of our global learning community shared his thoughts that, in this age, Crusade’s missional tactics of Win, Build, and Send should be supplanted or at least augmented with three other watchwords—Believe, Belong and Bless (Genesis 12:3). I like that! In some ways they mirror the three “C” words, but it also gives everyone outside the faith different entry points. The discussion goes beyond, believing before belonging or visa versa, but “Blessing” can also be the entry point to the faith journey as all people are invited to serve in our world. So again there is a flow…a journey…inward / upward…withward…outward…inward / upward…outward…withward.

The Worst Day in the Life of a Calf--Boulder Roundup

2008-04-26T09:42:00.009-06:00

This morning, Liz and I took Gentry to the Boulder Roundup--an annual event where the spring-born calves are wrestled to the ground, castrated, vacinated and branded--all within a couple of minutes. Life can only get better after a day like today. Little wonder that cattle seem to be so contented grazing grass on the hillside. Life got very good after the Boulder Roundup. Mostly those who do the calf-wrestling are teenagers but it is open to all and this year, John Lamb, his son-in-law, Brian and a church-planting friend, Mike, all got in the arena. It's quite a scene and a rustle of activity wherever one can see.

Fellow-worker = Synergy

2008-04-24T11:56:00.004-06:00

I wish I could remember my source for this but did check it out for myself using some Greek tools on the Web. Some of you might recall that my Greek is limited to agape and baklava, which equips me for talking about my unconditional love for Greek pastry...but little else. However, check this out....the word translated 13 times in the NT for "fellow worker" is the Greek word, "synergos," from which we get our word synergy. Now, to me, that is a big idea! I think of synergy as the force where we play off of and maximize all the strengths that are in the room. I often say that the best learning environment is one where the least qualified person, with the least tenure can make the greatest contribution because their ideas and contribution are weighed against the mission. None of us, as individuals, can ever be as smart as all of us...and that is why "fellow workers" are so important in our missional undertakings! When synergy occurs 1+1=3. When we work with fellow-workers we not only become workers but better people.

Romans 16:3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus
Romans 16:9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys my beloved.
Romans 16:21T imothy my fellow worker greets you, and so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen.
1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
2 Corinthians 8:23 As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you; as for our brethren, they are messengers of the churches, a glory to Christ.
Philippians 2:25 But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger and minister to my need;
Philippians 4:3Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Colossians 4:11a nd also Jesus who is called Justus; these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God who are from the circumcision, and they have proved to be an encouragement to me.
1 Thessalonians 3:2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith,
Philemon 1:1[ Salutation ] Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved brother and fellow worker,P
hilemon 1:24as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow workers.
3 John 1:8Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers with the truth

Eyes Wide Open

2008-04-22T11:59:00.000-06:00

This morning while taking a walk on the open space near our house I was listening to the book of Matthew on my iPod. One verse in particular caught my ear—a passage I had caught my eye a couple weeks ago when I was reading this gospel--Matthew 13:15:

For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'

Most everyone wants to get well…and wants the Lord to heal them but not surprisingly Jesus tells us that we have a part in our own development. We go through life…I go through life with closed eyes, plugged ears and a heard heart. But Jesus offers something better; if we open our eyes, our ears and our hearts we will “turn”…we will do something differently and Jesus will step in and heal. I think this is what it means to say “yes” to life and “yes” to God. This got me thinking about how open, observant and responsive Jesus was. His observations led to him “turning”—being available for a different agenda that day because he was living in the dynamic response to life as he walked through it. So I googled (generic term for “looked up”) some key words regarding what Jesus did when he saw, heard or learned.
Matthew 8:18: When Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake.

Matthew 9:2: When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."

Mark 2:5:When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

Mark 9:25: When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. "You deaf and mute spirit," he said, "I command you, come out of him and never enter him again."

Mark 10:14: When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.

Mark 12:34: When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Luke 5:20: When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."Luke 7:13: When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry."
Luke 13:12: When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity."

John 1:47: When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."
John 5:6: When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?

John 11:33: When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.

John 19:26: When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son,"

Matthew 4:12: When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee.

Matthew 8:10: When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.

Matthew 14:13:When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns.

Luke 7:9: When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, "I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel."

Luke 18:22: When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
John 2:3: When the Lord learned of this, he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee
John 5:6: When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"

I think the point Jesus was making is this—life is happening all around us. Hear, see, learn and respond. Responsiveness matters.

Serve Columbus

2008-04-19T14:54:00.006-06:00

Today over a thousand folks from Vineyard Columbus went into the community and lived out what they had been hearing about the past couple of days. 50 projects were selected--schools, shelters, streets. I had the pleasure of working alongside Rich Nathan. It was a great morning. Rich worked w/ some of the men who have been part of his men's group for the past few years--quality men and disciples.

Justice Revival Leadership Lunch

2008-04-18T14:07:00.007-06:00

Vineyard Columbus Church is part of the first Missional Renaissance Leadership Community. This is a great group of ten communities from around the country that are convening for two years. Ideally, each church brings the senior pastor, another church staff, a city official, CEO of a business and Executive Director of a major non-profit.

Today, during the Justice Revival, 100 cross-sector leaders from around Columbus and Ohio including Gov. Ted Strickland, Mayor of Columbus Michael Coleman, city council persons, community business and social sector leaders. In many way this event epitomizes the goals of the Missional Renaissance--convening cross sector leaders to work on problems they commonly care about. Jim Wallace, once again gave a great address.

While we were waiting for the luncheon to begin Evangelism Pastor, Stephen Van Dop showed me around Vineyard's Community Center, which opened last year and served 5000 people in the community each month w/ free medical, dental, after school programs, sports programs, etc. Over 100 community ministries / initiatives are led by lay people at Vineyard. They're really doing a great job.

Justice Revival in Columbus

2008-04-17T20:48:00.005-06:00

This afternoon I arrived in Columbus and drove over to Vineyard Columbus (http://www.vineyardcolumbus.org/) for the second day of the Justice Revival. It was a great evening listening to the Raise Mass Choir, Shane Claiborne and Jim Wallace (Sojourners)...not to mentioon Bishop Timothy Clarke who MCd the evening. Last night was a great night also with 3,500 in attendance (http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/04/17/justice.ART_ART_04-17-08_A1_7V9V116.html?sid=101). Pastor Rich Nathan gave an invitation at the end of the evening and scores came forward.

Tonight there were two more "alter calls." This may be modeled after a little known fact re Charles Finney, who Jim Wallace says pioneered the alter call by asking people to come forward to trust Christ and sign the anti-slavery petition. Wallace urged the people from the 40 churches that had come together to adopt Columbus as a parish and create a kingdom movement of social justice.

Plagerism Code Was Plagerized

2008-03-31T18:58:00.003-06:00

Just read an interesting aricle in The Dallas Morning News. Students at University of Texas at San Antonio wanted to draft an honor code that discouraged cheating and plagerizing but, as the article says, "Unfortunately it appears they copied another school's code without permission." I'm probably at risk of plagerizing this article but I think there is a lesson regarding blindspots that all of us have. Remember the Johari Window? There are areas of our lives that others see clearly that we are blind to...and we all have them. (C0urtesy of

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johari_Window )

Beyond the Church Doors

2008-03-31T18:53:00.002-06:00

For a couple of days I am at Dallas Theological Seminary for their missional church conference. Today's presenters have been Ed Stetzer and Alan Roxburgh--two missional leaders from whom I have learned a lot. Check out the blogs at www.edstetzer.com and www.allelon.org

Externally Focused Church Class

2008-03-27T09:21:00.006-06:00

In conjunction with the Externally Focused Conference I will also be teaching an Externally Focused Church class through Bakke Graduate University (http://www.bgu.edu/). If you are working towards a MDiv or DMin or just want to take this class as part of your personal growth and enrichment....well, it's going to be a good one.

The class begins with a barbecue at our house on Sunday evening (May 4) followed by a pre-conference intensive with Jack Jezreel on May 5 before the EF Conference begins. After the conference we'll drive up to Estes Park and stay 3 nights at Lost Antler Ranch. The class will end on Friday morning, May 9th. Participation will be limited to 25 people. Lodging and meals / snacks for Tuesday-Friday are a paltry $175 / person. To see the syllabus and register, go to http://www.bgu.edu/scripts/courseView.asp?courseId=139

Externally Focused Conference May 5,6, 2008

2008-03-27T09:04:00.003-06:00

I am very pleased to personally invite you to the Externally Focused Conference (http://www.externallyfocusedconference.com/) at LifeBridge Christian Church on May 5th and 6th in Longmont, Colorado. This is the conference you want to bring a bunch of folks from your church to help them catch a vision of what God is doing and can do through externally focused churches. Last year's conference was very good and this year's event seems to be just as good. If you were to do one thing to advance the externally focused ball in your church, this would be the event to come to.

In addition to being with others of like mind and like heart, we will be hearing from and interacting with folks who are on the leading edge of externally focused ministry, many of whom Rick Rusaw and I wrote about in The Externally Focused Church. These are the leaders who have shaped my thinking regarding what church could be. These are the leaders whose stories I have been telling wherever I go. Here are our four keynote speakers who also will be giving breakout seminars:

Rick McKinley from Imago Dei in Portland. Rick McKinley is the founding pastor of Imago Dei Community in Portland, Oregon, a missional community loving and blessing the city. Rick was part of our second Externally Focused Leadership Community, is doing an incredible job of loving his city. He is the author of “Jesus in the Margins” and “This Beautiful Mess: Practicing the Presence of the Kingdom of God”. He will bring a fresh perspective on the kingdom.
Alvin Bibbs from Willow Creek. Alvin has done a great job in mobilizing thousands of suburban believers from Willow into the pain and need of Chicago. He is a real gem in the kingdom of God.
Robert Lewis—founding pastor and pastor at large at Fellowship Bible, Little Rock. Part of my externally focused journey was taking 35 pastors / Christian leaders from Boulder to Robert’s Church of Irresistible Influence Conference several years ago. Many of us can trace our passion to Robert.
Rick Rusaw from our host church—LifeBridge Christian Church. Rick and I co-authored The Externally Focused Church and Living a Life on Loan. Enough said!

Plus FIVE 3-hour pre-conference intensives (extra $49) with:
Jack Jezreel—founder of JustFaith.org. If you were part of the EFCLC you heard from Jack during our last gathering. The best stuff on mercy and justice ever!
Doug Pollock—Doug’s stuff on Irresistible Evangelism is the best stuff I’ve seen that fits hand in glove with externally focused ministry
Don Simmons—the master when it comes to volunteers. No one I know is better
Amy Sherman—Amy is a Senior Fellow at the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research, where she directs the Center on Faith in Communities. She is probably the most knowledgeable person in the world on churches that are making a difference in the community.
Yours truly—doing my 3 stock seminars on “Becoming an Externally Focused Church.” Of course I recommend the above folks but for those who need a “101” course in externally focused, these are very helpful and good sessions.

In addition, we will have 24 breakouts in three different breakout sessions—check out the website (http://www.externallyfocusedconference.com/) for details. All sessions will be recorded so you don’t have to miss a thing.

Easter Dinner

2008-03-25T18:42:00.006-06:00

We celebrated the Ressurection Day with Church, followed by an Easter egg hunt and lunch with my grandson, Gentry culminating w/ an Easter dinner at our place. Our guests were starved--gobbling up a turkey, a ham, two roasts, ten pound of scalloped potatoes and bacon, huge salads and a bevy of desserts. This is actually quite easy for Liz and me. We usually provide the meats (and this time prepared the scalloped potatoes) and just ask the guests to bring something. It always works out great.

One of our guests, Rick Murphy (you might remember him from my "going to jail" blog entry), shared after dinner and before dessert the power of the resurrection in one of the prisoners he ministers to as part of his job as a jail chaplain. "Jonathan" was arrested for murder, placed in jail during his trial, came to faith in Christ last summer and to his attorney's dismay, "told the whole truth" about what he had done. "As a Christian I must look myself in the mirror every day for the rest of my life and I've just got to tell the truth, even if I must spend the rest of my life in prison." His state-appointed attorneys wept. One said, "How I envy you. You are free to tell the truth." Jonathan did get life without paroll but told Rick how excited he was to be God's ambassador in prison--"...and all my support is raised."

Spring Skiing

2008-03-22T18:09:00.003-06:00

Bob Dozier--Tax Man

2008-03-22T06:45:00.001-06:00

I got my taxes done yesterday...in less than an hour from my long-time tax man, Bob Dozier. I love meeting with Bob because he is so passionate about his work. He LOVES tax season. He licks his accounting chops at every correct document I pull out and then he enters it into the computer. I love recommending Bob to my friends. My willingness to refer Bob to my friends made me think, "What makes Bob so 'recommendable?'"

1) Bob is passionate about his work. He is doing what God designed him to do.
2) He's enjoyable to be with. He has a contagious smile and though not spared from the hurt and tragedies of life, he remains upbeat and enthusiastic.
3) He is completely competent. He is an expert in his craft.
4) He is current--he keeps up with every change in the tax law.
5) He operates with integrity.
6) He charges a fair price and saves me money….yep, we’re getting a refund.
Would that all of us be so referable to others, huh? Thanks Bob for making your job look like so much fun!

Australia with my brother

2008-03-22T06:08:00.004-06:00

Australia is a great place but for us the best part was hanging out with my brother and his family who live in Brisbane. Bruce and part of the fam met us coming off the plane at the Brisbane airport. After having a "cuppa" and icecream cone at McDonalds, we went to stay w/neice Brenda and her husband Christian for three nights before heading up to the Sunshine Coast. They have a wonderful 2 1/2 year old who is just adorable (one day older than our grandson Gentry). It was so good to be with them. Two years ago December they very sadly lost their two year old son Tommy. We went to the children's cemetery where Tommy is buried. This was the first time Liz and I had been back to Australia since his death. Brenda and Chistian showered us with hospitality and Christian probably fixes the best "flat white" coffee in Australia and Brenda delighted us with the speshes she whipped up.

Liz and I then drove up to my brother's place where we had lunch (mmmmmmmm....mango and chicken salad on the patio) before driving to Caloundra Beach at the Sunshine Coast. Bruce and Lynn Maree had rented a three bedroom condo for a few nights and with thier son sam, my neice Lyn and her husband Simon and their two darling girls (Georgie and Rosie), we had a ball. I am fortunate to say that my brother and his family are absolutely a delight to be with. They showered us with hospitality and good Aussie tucker (snags, chooks, chops, fish and chips etc). It was hard to say goodbye but there has been a good flow of family going in both directions so we hope its not too long before we get to repeat the above.

Eoghn Tivoli on Fish Heads

2008-03-12T15:01:00.004-06:00

Eoghn lived with our family in Colorado for his senior year of High School, graduating in May of 1999. Eoghn is Fijian by background but has lived in many parts of the world, including Japan and New Zealand. We look back with fondness on that year when he, and my boys, Andy and Jeff were all wrestling and training at Centaurus H.S. One of the foods Eoghn talked about was the absolute delight of fish heads. Here is what I captured a few days ago when we met up with Eoghn at Cronulla Beach.

Australia with Eoghn

2008-03-11T21:29:00.007-06:00

Sunday morning I met Liz in Sydney, arriving from SFO about the same time Sunday morning I arrived from Auckland. Sam Liz and I drove to the city center to see the Opera House and the

Harbor Bridge. Liz and I arranged to meet Eoghn at Cronulla Beach (http://www.cronullabeachyha.com/cronulla-tourist-information/). Eoghn lived with us his senior year of high school back in 1998-1999. He was a great kid and has now grown into a wonderful father and husband. After renting a car we had wanted to meet them at a place that had shady trees, access to restaurants and a place to take a dip. Wouldn’t you know they could fill the bill so easily! Sydney is a beautiful city. That night we went to eat at an all-you-can-eat place w/ ham, lamb, a giant roast beef, fish, Chinese food, all the fixing. The next day after coffee and a full Aussie breakfast (minus the baked beans) we took off for the Blue Mountains and took a “bushwalk” to see the “Three Sisters” up close and then stopped at the cafe at which Eoghn's sister was working (see picture). By the time we got back to Eoghn’s place it was time to get our laundry off the line and head to the airport to fly to Brisbane.

New Zealand Inflation

2008-03-07T02:24:00.004-07:00

New Zealand has been great but the dollar has really taken a beating against the NZ dollar. You just get a lot less for a dollar. Check out the size of these "Jumbo Meat Pies" and the prices of cold cuts in the supermarket! Surprising though, the coffee cups (now called "bowls of coffee") have grown!

Most everything in NZ is 4/5 size...sort of like being at Disneyland. The trip has gone well so far. On Saturday Sam and I will be doing an all day Externally Focused seminar in Aukland. We're looking forward to what the day holds.

Externally Focused Leadership Community 6.1 Day 3

2008-03-01T08:01:00.004-07:00

The final morning of leadership communities are devoted to finishing up their 5 year strategic plans, their six-month Action Learning Plans and their 4-quadrant visual depiction of their 5 year vision, their biggest "aha" from the gathering, along with 2 big goals they want to have completed by the time we meet in September.

Today, I'm off to New Zealand with Sam Williams for a country-wide conference sponsored by Vision Network of New Zealand for 3 days along with meeting w/ pastors in Palmerston North and then a one-day conference in Auckland. God is doing some great things around the world to place his church back into the community. I'm glad we have the opportunity to be part of it!

Externally Focused Leadership Community 6.1 Day 2

2008-02-29T07:18:00.004-07:00

Another great day yesterday. There was a lot of energy in the room and the teams worked very hard to create a "what could be" future for externally focused church. The manner in which we work during the first gathering is to go non-stop the second day. Folks take thier own breaks and pace themselves. But we started at 8am with Breakfast yesterday and finished dinner at 8:30 at the Texas Land and Cattle Steakhouse. It was a good full day as "what could be" transitioned to the hard work of "what will be"--their actual strategic and action planning

Externally Focused Leadership Community 6.1 Day 1

2008-02-27T19:24:00.006-07:00

Today was a blast! Leaders from 12 churches crowded into Leadership Network's facilitation space for a 2pm start. We opened by talking about the difference between entering this process with "expectations" and "expectancy"--and there is a big difference. Anne Lammot says, "Expectations lay the groundwork for disappointment." Expectancy on the other hand is entering with anticipation of what God will do at the unexpected intersections of life. We also talked about building on the ideas of others rather than just using our "critical thinking skills" to say what is wrong with the suggestion. So we pulled out a "yes, but" jar. Folks who were guily of saying "yes-but" had to put in a buck. We'll have a drawing for the money before we leave.

After the orientation each church shares thier current models of externally focused ministry. They did a great job--concise and crisp. The rest of the afternoon was spent in various exercises that help us think outside the box regarding what externally focused ministry could be. There was a ton of energy in the room and it just got stronger as the day went on. We ended the day with an incredible catered Texas barbecue. Here are a few pictures from today.

Externally Focused Leadership

2008-02-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

Final Externally Focused Leadership Community

2008-02-26T10:35:00.003-07:00

Later today I am flying down to Dallas to begin the first gathering of the final Externally Focused Church Leadership Community. These communities have proved to be a great method of creativity, learning, growth and accomplishment. This should be a great ride! Twelve great churches will be in for the 2-year journey:

Center Street Church--Calgary
Christ Community Church--St. Charles, IL
Christ Fellowship Church--Palm Beach Gardens, FL
Foothills Community Church--Arvada, CO
Frazer Memorial UMC--Montgomery, AL
Grace Church--Greenville, SC
(Hill Country Bible--Austin, TX)
Mount Pleasant Christian Church--Greenwood, IN
Mountain Christian Church--Joppa, MD
North Way Christian Community--Wexford, PA
Saint Paul Baptist Church--Montclair, NJ
Wheaton Bible Church--Wheaton, IL
White River Christian Church--Noblesville, IN

Salivation

2008-02-26T09:18:00.007-07:00

On Saturday John Lamb, Rich Lotterhos and I cooked lunch at First Presbyterian Church's Lamb's Lunch--a Saturday lunch for the homeless population of Boulder. Drawing from the Elvis Cookbook (recipes for 70...or Elvis twice) we put together "Graceland Spaghetti"--sauteed peppers, garlic and onions, italian sausage, meatballs, blended together in a marinara sauce with diced tomatoes. Working together w/ 20 other big-hearted people who created a fabulous chopped salad.

The best part of Lambs Lunch is having lunch with the 80 or so folks who crowd around the tables. I had lunch with George and Dave. Dave has worked his whole life as a painter but is now experiencing vertigo, which has left him unemployed and staying at the shelter. This was the third time in George's life that he was homeless...gambling is what put him on the streets this time around. People need relationships...we need relationships as much as we need food. What many are surprised by is that 30-40% of the folks are women...some young, some have seen their years. There are mentally ill who sit by themselves on the fringes talking to themselves. Some folks are addicts and some have fallen on hard times. Many of them have full-time jobs but cannot make ends meet in today's economy.

When we cook, we want to do our best--life is hard enough on the streets and perhaps an extraordinary meal and good conversation lightens the burden. I think of the transforming power of a good meal in the movie "Babette's Feast." Food can be a work of art...a labor of love. One middle age woman commented, "I can tell you put a lot of love into the spaghetti." One man joked, "We thought this spaghetti came directly from Italy." Another said, "This is the best spaghetti I have ever tasted."

We are cooking every month for the next year. Next month we are thinking about Jambalaya. Could be good. If you'd like a pdf copy of the Elvis Cookbook drop me a line at eric@tangogroup.com

One more thing--one of the highlights was John's interaction with a Navaho Indian over lunch. John worked on a reservation in college and has basic language skills. I've enclosed a video of their interaction in Navaho.

Checklists

2008-02-17T11:18:00.003-07:00

On Friday, I met my daughter Kacey for lunch at Chipotle's. As we were standing in line, looking at the menu I noticed the manager filling a large order to be picked up. As he put each item in the box, he checked off the item on the order. Very simple, but Kacey and I talked about how good that would be if all businesses would do that. How often have you gotten a take-out order only to get home and find something was missing.

This morning I picked up the March 2008 issue of Fast Company. I'm becoming a fan of Dan and Chip Heath--authors of Made to Stick. Each month they write a column and this month's column was called "The heroic Checklist: Why you should learn to love checking boxes." Here's the story they tell:

The holy grail of checklists may be the one created by Dr. Peter Pronovost of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Intensive-care units (ICUs) often use intravenous lines to deliver medication, and these lines can become infected, causing nasty health complications. Pronovost, frustrated by these preventable events, compiled a five-step checklist.

The checklist contained straightforward advice: Doctors should wash their hands before inserting an IV, a patient's skin should be cleaned with antiseptic at the point of insertion, and so forth. There was no new science and nothing controversial--only the results were surprising. When Michigan ICUs put the checklist into practice over a period of 18 months, line infections were virtually eliminated, saving the hospitals an estimated $175 million, because they no longer had to treat the associated complications. Oh, and it saved about 1,500 lives. (http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/123/heroic-checklist.html)

Isn't that good?

Thai Artist

2008-02-04T22:09:00.000-07:00

One of the best discoveries in the shopping center was an artist who drew Jenda's portrait off of a photo for a mere $30. Pretty cool huh.

Thai Elvis

2008-01-31T09:16:00.000-07:00

Our last night here in Thailand before finishing up "To Transform a City" tomorrow, then catching a flight to Bankok. I find myself very grateful for the opportunity to be with such great folks that are intent on changing their communities.

In our hotel lobby every night we have had a Thai Elvis singing until 11pm each night. Tonight I thought I'd film him so you could see just another aspect of how great Thailand really is.

Thailand

2008-01-29T08:45:00.000-07:00

For the past week I've been in Thailand teaching a class called "To Transform a City." It has really been a lot of fun and also been a great opportunity to be with Andy, Natalie and baby Jenda who is now walking and is cuter than ever! (Below is a picture of Jenda inspecting the "snack bugs" in the open market.). How great do you think it was seeing Ronald McDonald giving the traditional Thai greeting? Then to see a banana choco pie so mushy-chocolaty good that I needed a baby wipe after I ate it. The best food i discovered was "golden mangos over sticky rice." Unbelievably good!

Thailand

2008-01-29T08:18:00.000-07:00

For the past week I've been in Thailand with a very "iffy" Internet connection at the hotel. Thailand is a great country. Liz joined me a couple of days ago so we've both been able to hang out with Andy and Natalie and baby Jenda, who is now walking and absolutely cuter than ever.

Mom and Dad in Colorado

2008-01-19T11:22:00.000-07:00

For the past week, Liz and I have had the pleasure of having my folks (and my niece Allee--Soph from Chico State) here with us in Colorado and it's been great. They've been nordic stick walking nearly every morning--walking around 2.5 miles. Not bad for 82 years old. Of course we've been doing a lot of eating. My dad is on some type of medication where he can eat every and all of what he wants and still not gain a pound. It's like he has the metabolism of a 16-year-old. It's just been fun having them here. Last night we went to the Avs game. Tomorrow, after watching the Packer game (Dad and Mom are great fans) they will leave for California. Liz leaves for Dallas tomorrow and I'm heading for Thailand so all good things must end.

Going to Jail

2008-01-09T07:23:00.000-07:00

Monday I spent a couple of hours with my friend Rick Murphy (on right at our Christmas Eve open house) who is chaplain at a local 1500 person jail facility. Rick greeted me in the reception area and soon we were in the middle of the complex walking down shining tile floors and Rick was introducing me to guards and minimum security inmates. The jail is broken down into 4-5 different wings and each wing has 6 pods, consisting of a bay (open space that has tables, a TV, and beds on the floor for prisoners who don't have cells). Prisoners where different colors of horizontally striped uniforms that differentiate their security level--green for "trustee" all the way to red, for maximum security.

It was time for church so Rick gave the signal to the guards behind the dark glass to open pod 1. He stepped in and announced that church was starting and men started lining up at the door. Each one had to show his ID at the door, Rick greeted each one by name, recorded each name, checked that name against his master list, then said, "You're good to go buddy" and each man went to the ad hoc chapel. Just getting the men from each of the 6 pods took 20 minutes or so.

So, what is church like in jail? It was pretty amazing. As I entered, 18 men were sitting quietly, listening to worship music that was playing on a small boom box. Rick welcomed everyone with a huge smile and told them how privileged he was to be with them. A single sheet of music was passed out and the fellas sang out "The Light of That City" along with the Brooklyn Tabernacle.

In this house we've built of make believe

Loved ones go long before, seems it's time to leave

But we will learn how to grieve, to forgive and receive'

Till we see them there in that city

Span of stars overhead as we walk this road

While this darkness remains, I will bear your load

And together we will tend the seed He's sown

As we walk along the road to that city

CHORUS:

On that day we will sing "Holy, Holy"

On that day we'll bow down in the light

And then we'll rise and turn our eyes

To the Lord, Jesus Christ, on that day

Though my eyes can't see what is waiting there

Though my mind can't conceive all that He's prepared

There the blind will see the sun, what was old will be young

And the lame, they will run all over the streets of that city

CHORUS:

On that day we will sing "Holy, Holy"

On that day we'll bow down in the light

And then we'll rise and turn our eyes

To the Lord, Jesus Christ, on that day

It was powerful. One thing I noticed. If you look around in church, most guys don't sing. In this jail all but a couple were belting out the lyrics.

Rick asked if anyone had anything to share. Ricky stood up and said that he had come to Christ in September here in jail and he had started a prayer meeting in his pod that week and several were joining him. Another shared about a buddy getting out in time to care for his mother. Rick encouraged the men, "even if you've been a Christian for a couple of minutes" to share the love of Jesus with others.

Rick had prepared a message of hope that day...as he does for every service. Every eye was glued on Rick. Rick frequently told of his own shortcomings and foibles. God was touching lives. Jail seems to be one of those "thin places" the Celts speak of, where Jesus shows up in a special way and he was showing up on that day. The service closed in prayer and with hope and expectation the inmates returned to their pods.

Rick took me around. "There are a bunch of folks I want you to meet." And we met guards and inmates. Lives were being changed.

When Rick and I were with Campus Crusade, Rick was one of the directors I supervised, before he left Crusade to be a church planter. I've seen Rick speaking and leading many times. His heart beats for people to come to faith in Christ and watching him made me think of how good God is to give him such a platform for loving and sharing the gospel.

Externally Focused 2.0

2007-12-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

This past week Sam Williams and I were in Atlanta meeting with some of the leadership folks from Perimeter Church. One of the things we've talked about is the evolution of externally focused ministry is the change from the pastor trying to mobilize the church to engage the community to the church leading the community in helping to change the world. The two enduring institutions of any community are churches and schools (businesses last on average a mere 30 years) so the leadership for enduring change lies in one of those two institutions. Schools, by nature, most often, do not have the political will nor consistent leadership to change communitites. The church, however, often can be that instrument.

Last month, Sam's church, Flatirons Church in Lafayette Colorado, pooled its resources, and brought a team to Afghanistan to dig a freshwater well ($60K) and brought 600 winter coats and blankets for displaced peoples of Afghanistan. As a church they are making a long term commitment to these people. A special offering brought in nearly $275k. But community transformation is more expensive than that. Having a kingdom mindset, however allows churches to lead the community in engaging the world. What if the church became the leaders for social change, not just here in the states but overseas? What if the church was the catalyst for leading its communities in partnering with an underresourced community in a developing country? The church could partner with churches but could help find schools to partner with schools, providing shoes and school supplies. Businesses could help businesses, etc. Most folks want to make a sustainable difference in the world and they often need just to be part of bigger plan and to be asked.

I write this today because I read today that a teenage girl single-handedly raised the money for a school in Cambodia (see story below). There is a lot of untapped energy to do good but most are waiting simply to be asked or led.
Associated Press: updated 5:37 a.m. MT, Wed., Dec. 26, 2007

U.S. teen brings new school to rural Cambodia
Student raised $52,000 after reading about hardships of country's youth
BANTEAY SREY, Cambodia - Hundreds of Cambodian villagers welcomed the arrival of a new school Wednesday, a gift from an American teenager who raised $52,000 after reading about the hardships of growing up in Cambodia.
Rachel Rosenfeld, 17, made her first visit to the Southeast Asian country for the opening of the R.S. Rosenfeld School, which brings five computers and Internet access to 300 primary school students in a small village of Siem Reap province, a poverty stricken area that is home to the country's famed Angkor Wat temple complex.
Rosenfeld, of Harrison, New York, said she learned about the village of Srah Khvav after reading a newspaper article last year that discussed the plight of poor Cambodian children who often have no access to education. The American said she was horrified to learn that some young Cambodian girls end up being sold into prostitution by their parents.
The teen said she set out to help after spending most of last year battling a stomach disorder that caused her constant pain. She required months of medical treatment that forced her to miss a year of school.
To raise money, Rosenfeld sent out hundreds of fundraising letters, sold T-shirts and offered naming rights for several structures in the school, a statement said. The $52,000 she raised was supplemented by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, which contributed $10,000 and $13,000, respectively, said her mother, Lisa Rosenfeld.
"It makes me feel great to know that I was able to help so many people," the teen said when contacted by telephone. "Just seeing everyone so happy (today). It meant a lot to me."
She was accompanied by her parents, grandparents and her brother and sister.
Children in white shirts and navy pants, the Cambodian school uniform, stood in two neat lines and clapped as Rosenfeld and her family arrived. The students pressed their palms together in a sign of respect and thanks.
"Going to school is very important to everyone's future," Rosenfeld said at the opening ceremony, according to a statement. "If I can build this school, then each of you can set goals for yourselves that you can reach."
"Aim very high, and you'll be surprised what you can achieve," she said.
Ung Serei Dy, an education official from Siem Reap province, said the school was only one of two in the village.
"The school donated by Rachel Rosenfeld is very important to us," he said, adding that she had "set a standard that all of us should learn from."

Colorado Christmas

2007-12-26T08:43:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful Christmas. Ashlie, Jeff’s wife, graduated from University of Colorado on Thursday. We’re all so proud of her. Jeff will do the same in May. Jeff and I inaugurated the season by making swedish potato sausage on the 23rd. On Christmas eve, after church we had our Open House. We fixed a 20 lb, honey-glazed ham, sausage and meatballs. Our guests filled the rest of the table with cookies, chips and desserts. This is one of our favorite things that we do all year.

On Christmas morning we woke to snow falling...actually quite a rarity in Colorado--to have new snow on Christmas day. Liz and I drove up to Longmont to watch our grandson Gentry open his presentsThis is the first Christmas where he understands the concept of opening presents and he loves to open his own and everyone else’s presents. I think his favorite present was his "helmet" a Winnie the Pooh came in.We went over to the Lambs for Don Wilcox's Christmas morning cinnamon rolls, something we have done for many years, and then back to our house for presents with the family and George and Harold. Of course Harold really liked the Christmas dinner scene in "Christmas Story." It was really fun day.

Kacey made short ribs and I threw a prime rib on the grill and made some bean soup with the left over ham bones, Liz made the side dishes and we had a very nice Christmas dinner. Afterwards we played Texas Holdem for a couple of hours (all winnings going to Save Darfur)using a really nice chip set Jeff gave me for Christmas. We called Andy and Natalie in Asia, and using Web cams were able to see each other while we were talking on Skype—so the call was free. This is great technology.

We come to the end of 2007 feeling very grateful for where we are in our lives, aware of God's blessings on each of us. We are in his hand.

Creativity and Constraint

2007-12-23T09:14:00.000-07:00

Have you ever tried to be creative? Have you ever taken out a sheet of white paper and said to yourself things like, "OK now think! Blank slate...Blue Sky...Blue Ocean (if you 've read the book) out of the box.....hmmmmm. Well, first I should have a good cup of Starbucks to help me think. Afterall, there has never been any Great Awakening without a good strong cup of coffee. Now where did I put my car keys?"

Dan and Chip Heath, authors of Made to Stick, recently published an interesting article entitled, "Get Back in the Box: How constraints can free your teams' thinking" in Fast Company (December 2007 / January 2008) p. 74. (http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/121/get-back-in-the-box.html). The thesis of the article is we actually become more creative when we create constraints in which to be creative. So, trying to create a bank's lobby that is "hipper and more inviting to young professional customers" far less effective than starting with some constraints--"We want the space to be more lie a Starbucks and less like a post office."

It is the same with comedy and improvisation. ""Improv actors are taught to be specific," Sawyer says. "Rather than say, 'Look out, it's a gun!' you should say, 'Look out, it's the new ZX-23 laser kill device!' Instead of asking, 'What's your problem?' say, 'Don't tell me you're still pissed off about that time I dropped your necklace in the toilet.'" The paradox is that while specificity narrows the number of paths that the improv could take, it makes it easier for the other actors to come up with the next riff."

The authors go on to write about Starbuck's founder, Howard Schultz: "Founder Howard Schultz famously fell in love with the concept of the "third place," a term coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg to describe meeting places other than home or the office. The third place, the focus of Oldenburg's book The Great Good Place, is an outside-the-box kind of term. It says, "think about something other than home or work." But it lacks specificity, which dulls its usefulness as a creative stimulus. Fortunately, the subtitle of Oldenburg's book fills the gap: "Cafés, Coffee Shops, Community Centers, Beauty Parlors, General Stores, Bars, Hangouts and How They Get You Through the Day." Pick any one of those and combine them with our starting point--the redesign of the bank. Could you envision a bank that feels more like a coffee shop? More like a beauty parlor? A bar? Some of these are terrible business ideas, but the stimulus is effective. Your mind is off to the races."

Creativity can only come with constraints: How does Moses get more rest and more time off yet pray for Israel to multiply a thousand times (Deuteronomy 1)? How do you feed 5000 people with only 2 fish and five loaves of bread?

Understanding constraints in this fashion fits in to what Sam and I picked up at McKee's Story Seminar. Good stories are built on the question, "What would happen if.....?" What would happen if a shark ate a swimmer at the beginning of tourist season in a beach resort town?

Thinking in this manner allows us to think differently. "What would happen if everyone in our church began loving and serving someone (outside of current friends and family) who could do nothing for them in return.?" "What would happen if everyone in our church had an across the street, across the tracks or accross the seas missional esperience this year?" You can see where this is leading. We need to think of specific constraints to clearly think about possible real outcomes.

"The Secret of Raising Smart Kids"

2007-12-19T05:45:00.000-07:00

Read an interesting article on the plane coming back from Atlanta last night on raising kids that was counterintuitive but I think it was very insightful. The article is the culmination of a 30-year study by Carol S. Dweck, published in Scientific American Mind, December 2007. The article begins this way:
"A brilliant student, Jonathan sailed through grade school. He completed his assignments easily and routinely earned As. Jonathan puzzled over why some of his classmates struggled, and his parents told him he had a special gift. In the seventh grade, however, Jonathan suddenly lost interest in school, refusing to do homework or study for tests. As a consequence, his grades plummeted. His parents tried to boost thier son's confidence by assuring him that he was very smart. But their attempts failed to motivate Jonathan. Schoolwork, thier son maintained, was boring and pointless.
"Our society worships talent, and many people assume that possessing superior intelligence or ability--along with confidence in that ability--is a recipe for success. In fact, however, more than 30 years of scientific investigation suggests that an overemphasis on intellect or talent leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unwilling to remedy their shortcomings."

How many times have we seen this scenario played out? People with great abilities and talent that don't ever come close to living up to their potential. The key learnings from the study include the following:
1. Many people assume that superior intelligence or ability is a key to success. But more than three decades of research shows that an overemphasis on intellect or talent--and the implication that such traits are innate and fixed--leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unmotivated to learn.
2. Teaching people to have a "growth mind-set," which encourages a focus on effort rather than on intelligence or talent, produces high achievers in school and in life.
3. Parents and teachers can engender a growth mind-set in children by praising them for their effort or persistence (rather than their intelligence), by telling success stories that emphasize hard work and love of learning, and by teaching them about the brain as a learning machine.

The study goes on to say, "As we had predicted, the students with the growth mind-set felt that learning was a more important goal in school than getting good grades. In addition, they held hard work in high regard, believing that the more you labored at something, the better you would become at it. They understood that even geniuses have to wrok hard for their great accomplishments. Confronted by a setback such as a disappointing test grade, students with a growth mind-set said they would study harder or try a different strategy for mastering the material.
"The students who held a fixed mind-set, however, were concerned about looking smart with little regard for learning. They had negative views of effort, believing that having to work hard at something was a sign of low ability. They thought that a person with talent or intelligence did not need to work hard to do well."

So how should we encourage kids? Dweck suggests we should tell stories of achievements that result from hard work. "Although many, if not most, parents believe they should build up a child by telling him or her how brilliant and tallented he or she is, our research suggests that this is misguided." In a 1998 study she writes, "After the first 10 problems, on which most children did fairly well, we praised them. We praised some of them for their intelligence: 'Wow...that's a really good score. You must be smart at this.' We commended others for their effort: 'Wow...that's a really good score. You must have worked really hard.'
"We found that intelligence praise encouraged a fixed mind-set more often than did pats on the back for effort. Those congratulated for their intelligence, for example, shied away from a challenging assignment--they wanted an easy one instead--far more often than the kids applauded for their effort. (Most of those lauded for their hard work wanted the difficult problem set from which they would learn. When we gave everyone hard problems anyway, those praised for being smart became discouraged, doubting their ability and their scores, even on an easier problem set we gave them afterward, declined as compared with their previous results on equivalent problems. In contrast, students praised for their effort did not lose confidence when faced with the harder questions, and thier performance imprved markedly on the easier problems that followed."

That's pretty amazing, but something we've all seen. We think positive praise for innate ability or talent ("You're so smart...such a great natural athelete, so pretty / handsome) will breed confidence but instead it is the breeding ground for self-doubt.

If you want to read more, the full article is posted on http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids

Story Seminar--Days 2 & 3

2007-12-10T18:31:00.000-07:00

Sam and I finished McKee's 30 hour seminar two hours before quitting time (8:30 pm last night) in order to catch a plane to LAX. The last three days were incredible! McKee taught non-stop from 9am in the morning until 8:30 each evening for the past three days. There were three 15 minute breaks and one 60 minute break for lunch. Without PowerPoint he taught a semester class, which he developed over 20 years ago, while teaching at the film school at USC, over a 3 day period. We from 3pm yesterday we did a scene by scene analysis of what McKee thinks is the finest film of all time....Casa Blanca. 80 students barely moved the entire time.

Sam had an epiphenal moment where he realized that all the things McKee was teaching were really insightful in developing his "sermon as story." The goal is not to weave creative stories into the sermon but from beginning to end, develop the sermon as one would tell a story. McKee drops little insightful gems along the way--like the connection between "author," "authority," and "authenticity."
Author--is to originate. After the author, all else is interpretive art work.
Authority--comes from research on your subject / topic. Audience will feel they are in the hands of an authority.
Authenticity--Developing an interally consistent world one can believe in. The audience must empathize with the protagonist and authenticity is the key. Authenticity has nothing to do with reality.

McKee says that people who say, "I don't want to see a down-ending film because I have enough of that in my own life" are liars. The people that enjoy down-ending films are people who have suffered because such movies reassure them they are not alone in their suffering...they are not being singled out. Haloucaust survivors go to such movies.

McKee talkes about the "inciting incident" that upsets the balance of the progagonist's life that best the question, "How will this turn out?" This causes every person in the audience to create the coming "obligatory scene" that must happen in order to bring resolution to the inciting incident.

Progression in a movie is satisfying when the protagonist makes choices that reveal character. This is called a turning point that leads to a "rush of insight" by the audiience. In movies the choice is never between good and evil but the better good or the lesser of two evils. A love story, for instance, always must include a third person that will come in the way of love, or there is no love story.

Drama is written to the emotion. Comedy appeals to the intellect. Drama admires the human species. Comedy understands that under the best of circumstances, people will find a way to screw up. "You know a society is in trouble when it cannot laugh." (e.g. Iran) The one test of comedy...do people laugh?

An artist can repeat what he /she does with success...they ave access to thier talent whether they feel like it or not. An artist is not someone who got it right once. They have control over the art form.

One huge insight...and something McKee insists on, is that every text has a subtext. The subtext is what is going on behind the words.

A "classic" in any art is something you can return to and receive pleasure. I have attached a clip I took of McKee teaching.

If you want to see a short interview with McKee, click on this link.

http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=1475

Story Seminar Day 1

2007-12-08T00:11:00.000-07:00

Great day 1 at Robert McKee's Story seminar. McKee's class is no-nonsense. In the first few minutes he lays the groundrules for the weekend--We will meet 9am until 8:30 Friday through Sunday. There are 3 fifteen minute breaks and 60 minutes for lunch. McKee starts promptly and does not accept people being tardy. Anyone with a pager or cell phone that goes off is immediately fined $10. A second offense means expulsion from the class. These are the kind of rules one can make if one is so successful and prominent that people bend personal freedoms to get what they really want...to be master of the good story--well told. Amazingly no one checks Blackberrys or phones. Twice, McKee stopped the class to ask people to stop talking. I took too many notes to record them all here but McKee surprises all of us with his passion for excellence in story telling. I'll put a few pertinent quotes here to think about.

Writing a great story is why God put you on this earth.

There is a dearth of good story telling today. Theatre is a museum...a tribute to great writing of the past. Hollywood produces 500 movies a year and I have a hard time figuring out how they will come up with 5 nominees for best picture. When I was growing up I'd see a couple dozen films where i'd walk out of the theatre saying, "Wow, what a story!" How many times do you do that. There are just not that many of them. The art form has eroded but the world is still hungry for a great story. If you come up with a great story it is a writers market.

The goal is a good story...well told. A good story is a story worth telling. It begins with insight that you understand that others don't. You can see through the surface--a fresh vision of life...a hidden truth. Now bring knowledge to this vision--god-like knowledge of the character, history, and world. To bring knowledge you must do research. The difference between a writer and an author is research.To this add passion for perfection, a hatred of mediocrity that drives your work. You must have taste--hating the bad and loving the good and having the ability to recognize quality--loving beauty and hating ugliness.

Amateurs love everything they write. Professionals hate everything they write . They have high standards that they never meausure up to so they eventually settle for the best they can do. Nobody loves to write. If you are not scared to write, you don't know what you are doing. No one loves to write. You write because you have to.

Besides vision, knowledge and passion for perfection you must have talent. Talent is the ability to connect two things that exist that no one has previously connected. This is the new! Creativity is creating from what you already know. "The fog rolled in on little cat feet." Fog and cat feet existed but no one put them together before. Knowledge is essential to sustain talent.

"The unlived life is not worth examining." McKee

Verisimilitude (life-like life) = truth. Writing with verisimilitude is a mistake writers make. Story is a metaphor for life. Facts are not the truth of life. Facts are neutral. Fact: Homelessness. Truth: 1) people are homeless because of bad choices. 2) people are homeless because society is heartless. e.g. Some people will always be on the margins because they can't cope with life. 1% of world's population is schizophrenic. Facts have no meaning until someone finds truth in the hows and whys.

What is the profound value of my story? The story climax tells you the meaning. When it comes from the best of you the ending will shock even you.

Once the story has an ending...everything is written then send it out into the world. You have the responsibility to tell the truth. Ask yourself, Do I believe that? If you do, do everything you can to get it to the world. If you do not....delete it.

McKee laments that romance is dead. "The only people you see walking around holding hands are the elderly and gays." Couples don't fall in love any more. They simply become "friends who ______" "______ing buddies!" But the desire for romance is fully alive. Romance novels would top the NY Times best seller list so they are not listed there. Titanic took off (it was a dreadful movie) because it apealed to 14 year old girls!

How characters act under pressure reveals character. the mask of characterization is stripped away and character is revealed. the tougher the choice, the more clearly defined the character.

Well, I see now that every note I took is good but I am just getting started.

DAY 2
Act design: the great sweep and body of story
The first major story event (the inciting incident)
Scene design in Story: turning points, emotional dynamics, setup/payoff, the nature of choice
Ordering and linking scenes
Exposition: dramatizing your characters, the story setting, creating back story
The principles of antagonism
Crisis, climax and resolution

Robert McKee's Story Seminar

2007-12-06T23:33:00.001-07:00

A few months ago I read a very influential book called Story, by screenwriter Robert McKee. I entered my notes on my August 28th. Really good stuff. This weekend, Friday through Sunday, Sam Williams and I will be attending McKee's Seminar. On the plane flying out here I watched Spike Jonze's "Adaptation"--a movie about screen writing that actually features a scene depicting McKee's seminar. Here's what we have to look forward to tomorrow.

DAY 1
The writer and the art of story
The decline of story in contemporary film, television, theatre and literature
Story design: the meaning of story, the substance of story, the limitations and inspirations of story structure & genre, the debate between character vs story design.
Premise Idea, Counter Idea, Controlling Idea
Story Structure: beat, scene, sequence, act, story
Mapping the Story universe: Archplot, Miniplot, Antiplot
Shaping the source of story energy and creation

Cal Snatches Defeat from Jaws of Mediocrity

2007-12-03T19:55:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Liz and I joined Don and Muriel Wilcox for our annual Cal-Stanford Football game--known in California as "the Big Game." It's a great weekend. Donny and I have started to attend the (past) players lunch at the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club on Friday where we connect with old pals while Liz and Muriel shop in the city. Yeah, we tell the same stories every year but no one really seems to care. On Friday night we make our way over to Fenton's Ice Cream in Oakland. For nearly 40 years I have ordered the same thing--a Black and Tan, substituting, swiss milk chocolate ice cream for vanilla. On Saturday morning we had breakfast at the Durant hotel and then grabbed a Top Dog before heading over to Palo Alto for some tailgate parties, with old college friends before walking into the game. I mention this only to say, that we conclude long before the game starts that the outcome of the game is really incidental since we've already had such a good time.

Cal ended up losing--but that's OK. We had our moment in the sun when we were officially #2 (and unofficially #1) six weeks into the season. Sure they dropped the past 5 / 6 games but somehow still squeeked into a bowl game (the Armed Forces Bowl).

An added bonus was seeing Mom and Dad on Thursday. Mom made a Christmas "kringla" for our arrival.

Hanging out in the capital for a couple days

2007-11-23T16:43:00.000-07:00

We left Andy and Natalie's place and took a trainride to the big city. It's been so relaxing. Andy and Nat scored an apartel 24 floors above the city and we are a 5 minute walk from McDonald's where the coffee is excellent. Through the technology of Slingbox we all watched the ASU-USC game live (complete w/ nachos and salsa) via Andy's computer hooked up to the TV screen. Slingbox allows you to synch your computer with your TV back home so you can watch every channel you receive at home any place in the world...that has a high speed connection. While baby Jenda napped Andy and I caught a subway for the forbidden city. Sure enough, the city is laid out in a true North-South orientation. Then, last night we went celebrated Thanksgiving Diner at the Outback. It's been a short trip but a good trip--hanging out with Andy and Nat, bonding with baby Jenda. Today we go back to Colorado.

Everybody loves Jenda

2007-11-19T22:23:00.001-07:00

One thing Liz and I noticed is that as cute as we think Jenda Zoe is, our admiration is matched by the Chinese. Everybody wants to give her a couple of hugs--especially the "nai-nais"--the grandmas. Occasionally, when at McDonald's, people give her votive offerings of fries or nuggets on her tray, hoping the little golden one will answer their prayers. Many rub her head for good luck. On the train to Beijing people gave her fruit and nuts!

Chinese Souvenirs

2007-11-19T22:09:00.001-07:00

China has some great souvenirs. Wouldn't you love to have these in your back yard? Especially the last photo of the Communist Dream Team--Engles, Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Mao.

Innovations...so far

2007-11-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

In the November 12, 2007 edition of Newsweek, there was a very interesting article entitled,

Google Goes Globe-Trotting; To train a new generation of leaders, the search giant sends young brainiacs on a worldwide mission. The story was about sending fourteen 20-somethings on a sixteen day worldwind tour of four cities around the world. "This sort of enterprise was exactly what Google was hoping for when it began the Associate Product Manaagers program five years ago. Earlier attempts to hire veterans from firms like Microsoft had awful results. "Google is so different that it was almost impossible to reprogram them into this culture," says CEO Eric Schmidt." One of their tasks was to shop and see what best innovative things they could buy for a set amount of money. The winners were awarded prizes.

This got me thinking about innovations as we arrived in China. The two things I have discovered are rather low-tech but clever ideas nonetheless. The first comes from McDonalds. Rather than putting drinks in those molded cardboard trays, which bend under the weight of a couple of drinks, the Chinese put softdrinks into narrow plastic bags so they always stay upright and are easy to carry.

The second innovation was something I saw last night when Andy, his friend and I went out for more wantons and then wandered across the street to watch the noodle maker. All the patrons of that restaurant were served with bowls that had plastic liners. This allows the restaurants to use the bowls over and over again without ever having to wash them. Admitedly this is a big gross and it sort of feels like "safe eating" but eating out of a bowl without a liner doesn't mean that the bowl is washed and sterilized between usings!

Another innovation--probably centuries old, are the thick quilts hanging at the entrance of the shopping center--to keep the warm in and the cold out. They would be slightly better if they were clear--like at the supermarket meat cooler because a lot of folks bump into each other but these quilt panels are as good as a revolving door.

Wonton soup and shopping

2007-11-18T04:34:00.001-07:00

Andy and Natalie's Place

2007-11-17T20:08:00.001-07:00

Here is a short film on Andy and Natalie's place.

Arrived in China

2007-11-17T19:45:00.000-07:00

First myth to be dispelled: You cannot see the Great Wall from space--you can barely see it from the approach into PEK--Beijing Int'l Airport.

Second myth: Coach-class meals on international flights are pretty meager.

When Liz and I were waiting to change planes in Beijing we got a small snack. The "pignuts" were excellent.

Finally we saw Andy waiting for us.

Signs and Wonders in the Sky

2007-11-17T18:01:00.000-07:00

Last week flying home from San Diego I looked out the window and saw a 360 degree rainbow--the enduring sigh of God's covenant with us. The second was a picture of three birds forming a happy face to signify that maybe God was pleased what he saw.

But a second later he was mad again. Maybe it is better just to stick with reading the Scriptures!

Veterans Day

2007-11-11T20:03:00.000-07:00

On this Veterans Day I honor my father, Boyd A. Swanson, who served in WWII in the South Pacific and my son, Jeffrey E. Swanson, who served in Baghdad from March 2005 to March 2006. Thanks Dad...thanks Son.

Missional Renaissance--Day 2

2007-11-08T03:09:00.000-07:00

Great day finishing up the first of four two-day gatherings for the Missional Renaissance Leadership Community. In the 1400's the banking family, the Medicis, brought into the city of Florence, the best artists, architects, mathematicians, writers, etc. From the interaction between the sectors, and the cross-pollinization of ideas, some argue (specifically Frans Johanson in his book, the Medici Effect) that this interaction actually caused the Renaissance.

This Leadership Community is built on the same premise. Through generous sponsorship (LCs are 70% donor sponsored) we attempt to bring into the same space cross-domain leaders from the church, business, non-profits, education and see what just might happen. One of the distinguishing characteristics of LCs is that they are action oriented. So each gathering ends with a declaration of what they intend to get done the next six months.

As we ended our time Reggie McNeal brought some plaster replicas of Michelangelo's David's eyes. Interestingly, the pupils are in the shape of hearts. Some speculate that this was a "delight factor" that Michelangelo chiseled in to remind us that David was a man after God's own heart.

Missional Renaissance Leadership Community

2007-11-06T06:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the first day of a two-year Leadership Community called, Missional Renaissance Leadership Community. This LC is comprised of leaders from ten cities who have come together to accellerate their learnings and mission through cross-domain cooperation. Reggie McNeal (author of The Present Future, Practicing Greatness, etc) and I have been working on pulling this group together for around 6 months and we really like the folks that are in the room and we feel humbled by their commitment and achivements thus far. The city teams ideally are comprised of the senior pastor who serves as the invitor, business leaders, city officials, heads of major non-profits. This group has two CEOs of major corporations, the executive director of United Way, the police chief from a major mid-west city, school board members etc.

Leadership Communities are designed around three realities--what is, what could be and what will be so all of our exercises are designed to produce creative, cross-domain (domains being channels of influence in a community--business, arts & media, education, church, etc) thinking recognizing that it is at the intersection of domains that the best ideas will emerge.

Got to run to get to day 2 but our first exercise was called, "Finding Yourself in the Picture." Renaissance artist would often paint their patrons and themselves in a painting along with the other characters. So using 24 pictures each city had to describe which picture best described their city and how the different domains were working in the city. The creativity and interpretation was just great.

CU Buff's Rally

2007-11-04T08:12:00.000-07:00

Friday night Liz and I took Grandson Gentry to the Colorado Buffalo's rally on the Pearl Street Mall--a new tradition started by Coach Hawkins. It's great...the team, coaches and band walk the Mall with the band playing. It's really fun and Gentry loves it. "Go Buffs!...Go CU!"

He runs...he scores

2007-10-31T20:21:00.000-06:00

Trick or Treat

2007-10-31T19:44:00.000-06:00

This evening Liz and I went up to Longmont to have dinner with Jeffrey, Ashlie and Gentry and then to go Trick or Treat with them. Gentry was so cute--"Trick or Treat." Apart from getting candy from Satan's house we had a fun time.

I realize some people prefer "Harvest Parties" at the church but I took my Andy, Jeff and Kacey one year to a harvest party where they were required to dress as "biblical characters." Jeff went as Lazarus risen (so he looked like the Mummy), Andy went as John the Baptist holding his own head and Kacey went as the Witch of Endor. We found it was easier just to Trick or Treat in the neighborhood.

Leonardo's Horse

2007-10-29T21:13:00.001-06:00

In the late 1400s Leonardo was commissioned by Ludovico Sforza (under whose patronage Leonardo created The Last Supper on the wall of the refectory of Santa Maria dellle Grazie) to build an equestrian monument to honor his father, Francesco, the previous grand duke of Milan. Leonardo steeped himself in the study of the anatomy and movement of the horse and crafted a plan to create the greatest equestrian statue ever constructed. “After more than a decade of work Leonardo constructed a wooden and clay model twenty-four feet high. Vasari (Leonardo’s biographer) wrote that ‘there was never a more beautiful thing or more superb.”’[1] Leonardo calculated the monument would take over 80 tons of melted bronze to cast this masterpiece. Unfortunately his patron needed the bronze for canon for defense against the invading French and the model of the horse was destroyed as the conquering French archers used it for target practice.

In 1977 National Geographic published an article entitled The Horse That Never Was. The article described Da Vinci's conception of the Sforza equestrian monument and told the story of the destruction of his model in 1499.
A pilot and art collector Charles Dent read that article and conceived a dream to build Leonardo's Horse - Il Cavallo - and give it to the Italian people as a thank you gift for the treasures of the Renaissance. Although he never lived to see its completion, he left $1.5b of his estate to see his dream fulfilled. The project was designed by a Japanese-American sculptor, Nina Akuma and after another $4.5 was raised the statue was finished and unveiled in Milan on September 10, 1999 five hundred years from the day the original model was destroyed.[2]

Today I flew into Grand Rapids Michigan to be part of an Externally Focused Seminar tomorrow. You can imagine my surprise when I saw a picture of Michelangelo's horse in the airport! I found out there was a copy of the statue at the Fredrick Meier Garden. I had to see it. It was absolutely spectacular--a work worthy of Michelangelo.

[1] Gelb, Michael J. How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci. Delta Trade Paperback reissue edition (June 2004) 30.
[2] http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec99/leonardo_9-10.html

Atlanta Compassion in Action Weekend

2007-10-20T19:27:00.001-06:00

A couple of weeks ago Unite! Atlanta, working together with Hands on Atlanta and Great Day of Service combined their hearts and hands to serve Atlanta. It was a classic example of people of good faith working together with people of good will in the community. Unite! director, Chip Sweney sent the following stats my way.

Serving Report
October 5-7, 2007
On October 5-7, 2007, Unite!, Hands On Atlanta, and Gwinnett Great Days of Service collaborated efforts to mobilize volunteers for service throughout metro Atlanta. The following are estimated results from our efforts.
Combined Serving Statistics
Unite!, Hands On Atlanta & Gwinnett Great Days of Service
500 Service Projects
30,000 Volunteers
Unite! Serving Statistics
Compassion in Action
61 Participating Churches
250 Service Projects
6,000 Volunteers
Project Highlights
5 Katrina Homes Framed
7 Home Repair Projects
11 Public School Projects
20 Apartment Block Parties
30 “Welcome Baskets” made & given to refugee families
55 Church, Grocery Store & Neighborhood Food Drives
200 “Basic Needs” gift bags for homeless children
750 “Encourage-a-Teacher” Gift Bags
1,000 Bibles given away
25,000 Lbs of food collected

61 Participating Churches

Prayers for Good Luck Go Unheaded--Cal loses to UCLA

2007-10-20T18:51:00.000-06:00

#10 Cal snatched defeat from the jaws of ho-hum football, losing to UCLA in the Rose Bowl, 30-21 today. All prayers for good luck mistakenly went to the Bruins. As Cal was driving...and well within field goal range, Nate Longshore threw the potential go-ahead touchdown pass. Now click on the attached video to see what happened next.

Forces for Good

2007-10-20T11:43:00.001-06:00

Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits by Leslie R. Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant. Jossey-Bass (2007)

Since Don Simmons notified me about the release of this book I had been looking forward to reading it. I pre-ordered it on Amazon and it came in the mail yesterday. My expectations were met and exceeded. Forces for Good is significant because it really defines the new world we are living in. The best nonprofits no longer think merely how to improve their management, operations, efficiencies or results but have figured out how to collaborate with other domains of society to change the world.

The book is the result of a two year study on what enabled the best nonprofits to have such high levels of impact. “Our findings were nothing like the conventional wisdom about nonprofit management we had read before” (1). Below I will place some quotations from the book that will whet your appetite for reading this gem.

“The new philanthropy is all about leverageing financial resources by investing in the most entrepreneurial agents of change—those that have figured out how to scale their impact exponentially. It’s the end of charity as we know it, and the beginning of high-impact philanthropy…. Merely building a great board or delivering adequate services or even running an efficient nonprofit is no longer enough. In order to be true forces for good, they must learn new ways of thinking and acting” (4).

Stages of nonprofit development

“Most early research on nonprofit scale focused on program replication as a means of expanding social impact….Then in the past decade, the focus shifted to building organizational capacity in order to deliver programs more efficiently…More recently, nonprofits have been told to look to the private sector for models of success, in part because of the increasing cross-fertilization between the sectors. ‘Nonprofits need to be run more like business,’ is the common refrain. Although we agree that nonprofits can learn proven practices from their for-profit counterparts, this still isn’t enough. Better management practices can create only incremental, not breakthrough, social change. And even the best businesses cannot tell us how to change the world, because that is not their primary purpose…. We believe the next leap is to see nonprofits as catalytic agents of change” (5).

What they learned

As we learned in the course of our research, great nonprofits follow six practices to achieve more impact…. In a nutshell, organizations seeking greater impact must learn how to do the following:
Work with Government and advocate for policy change, in addition to providing services
Harness market forces and see business as a powerful partner not as an enemy to be disdained or ignored
Create meaningful experiences for individual supporters and convert them into evangelists for the cause
Build and nurture nonprofit networks, treating other groups not as competitors for scarce resources but as allies instead
Adapt to the changing environment and be as innovative and nimble as they are strategic
Share leadership, empowering others to be forces for good (6)

“We don’t have time for incremental change—we need dramtic change if we are to solve the complex global problems that plague us today. The stakes are high on all sides, and we must rise to the challenge. Ding anything less would squander this momentous opportunity to advance the grater good. Fortunately, these great nonprofits—and the lessons we can learn from them—can show us a new way” (7).

“The secret to success lies in how great organizations mobilize every sector of society—government, business, nonprofits and the public—to be a force for good. In other words, greatness has more to do with how nonprofits work outside the boundaries of their organizations than how they manage their own internal operations…Great organizations work with and through others to create more impact than they ever could achieve alone” (19).

Great social sector organizations do these six things:
1. Advocate and serve. The more they advocate and serve, the greater the levels of impact they achieve.
2. Make markets work. Tapping into the power of self-interest and the laws of economics is far more effective than appealing to pure altruism.
3. Inspire evangelists. Great nonprofits see volunteers as much more than a source of free labor or membership dues. They create meaningful ways to engage individuals in emotional experiences that help them connect to the group’s mission and core values. The see volunteers, donors, and advisers not only for what they can contribute to the organization in terms of time, money, and guidance but also for what they can do as evangelists for their cause.
4. Nurture nonprofit networks. High-impact organizations help the competition succeed, building networks of nonprofit allies and devoting remarkable time and energy to advancing their larger field. They freely share wealth, expertise, talent, and power with their peers, not because they are saints, but because it’s in their self-interest to do so.

“The first four practices are more external; they represent how these groups dramatically expand their impact outside the borders of their own organizations. Each of these practices influences an external stakeholder group with which the nonprofit works so as to do more with less. In observing this external focus (ooooooh, I like that term!), we also realize that working outside the organization entails special practices inside that help these nonprofits relate more effectively to their environment. This led us to discern two additional internal practices that enable high-impact nonprofits to operate successfully in the outside world and bridge boundaries” (21)

5. Master the art of adaptation. They have mastered the ability to listen, learn, and modify their approach based on external cues—allowing them to sustain their impact and stay relevant.
6. Share leadership. These CEOs are exceptionally strategic and gifted entrepreneurs, but they also know they must share power in order to be as stronger force for good. They distribute leadership throughout their organization and their nonprofit network—empowering others to lead (21-22).

In the past few months I’ve been thinking a lot about the increased role the church can have in a community. Although multitudes of churches are still trying to mobilize their people into the community, there are other churches that have taken a step beyond this and are mobilizing the other sectors of society to engage the community. This is the an untapped leverage point for the church.

A couple of days ago, Sam Williams and I were in Las Vegas at Hope Baptist Church (www.hopebaptistchurch.com). We flew in early enough to catch a performance of the Blue Man Group—an incredibly innovative and interactive form of entertainment, art, media and music. Hope was planted out of a church in Woodstock, Georgia in 2001 and under the leadership of Vance Pitman, has an average a weekend attendance of over 2000. More impressive, they have planted four churches and helped start two others. The meeting was convened by Brian Audia, who leads a non-religious 501(c)(3) called Surgance (www.surgance.com). The mission is “Channeling waves of servanthood toward community transformation.” Great mission statement as it recognizes that catching a wave is easier than causing a wave. Brian was the one who headed up New Hope New York—an initiative that resulted in 37 church plants in NYC with a combined weekend attendance of over 3000. Interestingly they went to New York to serve the city to impact the city. “We worked with anyone and everyone,” says Brian. Brian is a connector and entrepreneur. He went to the president of the Bronx Borough, and asked, “What can we do to help?” The president asked them if they could paint inner city schools. Brian assured him that they could. That was the beginning of an initiative called “Paint the Town.” Brian visited MS80, a middle school in the heart of the Bronx. A teacher took him to his classroom and showed him a three-foot hole in a blackboard. “its been there since I got here, 23 years ago.” Pain the Town partnered with Benjamin Moore, who provided free or at cost paint and supplies, World Vision, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, The Staubach Group, NYU, Columbia University, etc.—private, public and social sectors. The result? In 2004, they mobilized 4000 volunteers, gave 53K man hours, painting 1, 300,000 sf of walls, $1,000,000 of value invested in schools. They had block parties of 1500-2000 people where 700 people filled out comment cards asking to be contacted. Working with Upward Sports, they hosted sport camps for the kids reaching some 15,000 kids. The work goes on. To date they have mobilized 33K cross-sector volunteers. “People are dying to give themselves to something that will outlast them,” says Vance, lead pastor at Hope. This year alone they have seen 200 people come to faith.

Paint the Town and Surgance are working models of what it will take to transform community. I read some place this year that “the future is here right now, but it is unevenly distributed.” That’s a great quote. I understand that to mean that if we look close enough we can see right now, through the positive deviants, innovators and early adoptors, what will be effective in the future.

Rockies Roll: Sweep DBacks to Win NL Penant

2007-10-16T00:23:00.000-06:00

Wow! The Rockies are going to the World Series, having won the past 21 of 22 games, winning 7 games straight to win the NL Pennant. Now here's the bad part. A couple weeks ago Jeff bought 10 tickets for tonight's game but since I made a commitment nearly a year ago to be here in California, everyone went to the game but me! I'm happy for them to be able to say, "I was there." This is quite unbelievable!

For one brief shining moment

2007-10-14T20:33:00.000-06:00

Cal fans woke up this morning to find the Bears ranked number ten having our "prayers for good luck" go unanswered as they fell to Oregon State 31-28. Are we depressed? Are we heartbroken? No, a thousand times No! After all only 24 hours ago we were the "unofficial #1 ranked team in the country" for about an hour and a half. No team ever stays #1 forever. Our number 1 ranking was not going to last forever but we did get there. So, since Cal has not been #1 since 1938, they will probably not be #1 again in my lifetime. So yesterday afternoon...for an ever so brief but shining moments we were unofficial champions of the (collegiate) world. And for true Cal fans, its a moment we'll always remember.

Cal #1...unofficially...at least for a few hours

2007-10-13T18:24:00.000-06:00

Savor the moment Cal fans. Although the polls don't come out until tomorrow, unofficial rankings would have Cal ranked number 1 as they go into halftime leading Oregon State 14-13. Pictured are George Kopas, Bob Swenson and me celebrating the moment. The last time Cal was ranked number 1 was 1938! To put things into perspective, here are some major events of 1938.

Germany annexes Austria.

Germany demands Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia. (Who has even heard of Sudetenland????)

Oil discovered in Saudi Arabia.

Orson Welles causes panic when broadcasting his radio version of The War of the Worlds

The last reunion of the Blue and Gray commemorates the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Du Pont announced a name for its new synthetic yarn: "nylon".

Adolf Hitler is Time magazine's "Man of the Year" , an award that usually goes to the most influential person of the year

Dow Jones industrial average hovers around 100!

Dog without a boy

2007-10-11T10:54:00.000-06:00

When Liz and I were in Ireland this summer we saw this dog who figured out how to entertain himself......

Calling

2007-10-11T10:08:00.000-06:00

When I joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ in 1974 one of the questions that I had to answer on the application form was how God called me to Campus Crusade. If applicants could not describe a clear calling from God acceptance was quite doubtful.

It's interesting how things change. When I ask college students today how they were called to live overseas or work missionally, usually the answer is something like this: "My buddy called me and asked me what I was doing this summer. He then asked me if I wanted to join him and some other friends to go....and it sounded better than what I was doing, so I'm here."

Calling today often comes from people we like. This is the relational side of ministry.

With these thoughts in mind, I'll attach another letter from my son, Andy, in Asia. It's what I've been trying to say.....

Calling
I have been looking at the issue of calling during the past couple months. It is interesting if you look at it in the Bible. You can find a great many examples of people getting a specific call from God to do something. But as you look at calling, there is something else very interesting that surfaces. God, being a relational God, and us being relational people are also called relationally. We know the story of Paul’s call; we see Barnabas and John Mark and Titus and Luke who all go with Paul on this mission. The Bible gives no evidence of specific visions from the Lord to these other people. Paul refers to calling not as an individual calling but as the calling of all believers (1 Corinthians 1:23-31 Ephesians 4:1). “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” 2 Timothy 2:8 “called us to a holy calling.” There are many more. We are called and we are chosen to do good works. (Ephesians 2:10) Look at Abram’s call. God tells Abram to go to Canaan and he will bless him and will bless the earth through him. So does Abram go alone? No, he takes his wife, he takes his nephew, and he takes this whole big group of people with him. (Genesis 12:1-5) They are called because he is called and he decides to bring them along with him. Because of their relationship with Abram, through his call, they are also relationally called. Think of your own life. How many big things have you done for the Lord where you have had a specific call? How many things on the other hand have you done where people you have a relationship with are going to do something and you are excited about what they are doing and you see how God could use you and grow you, so you go along with them? I know God has used and is using you to do great things.

Why do we wait for God to call us to do his ministry? Has he not already called? Can non-Christians tell people about Jesus? Do you follow Christ? Then you must walk as he walked. 1 John 2:6 His mission was to proclaim the kingdom (Matthew 4:17, 23) and we are called his ambassadors 2 Corinthians 5:20. As ambassadors our job is to proclaim the king and his kingdom to those people who haven’t heard. Don’t spend all your time collecting people who already know Jesus but instead go to the distant places to show people the kingdom and introduce them to the King. Take your friends. Take your family and go. Bring the Kingdom of Heaven to the kingdom of hell. Go and change the world.

"'Not called!' did you say? Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face -- whose mercy you have professed to obey -- and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world. -- William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army

Externally Focused Campus Ministry

2007-10-11T06:15:00.000-06:00

My son Andy, who is working in campus ministry in Asia, sent this to me regarding externally focused ministry on campus. These are the principles he and Natalie and their students are attempting to put into practice.

What is a Christian like?
What is a follower of Christ like?
Describe an ambassador, what is his job?

If there were no Christians on your campus, would anybody notice?
Would there be any difference on your campus if there was no Christian fellowship there?
If the school wanted to kick all the Christians off campus would anyone object or come to your defense?

What do these questions do? They help us to evaluate our effectiveness. Do we really want to change our campus and the world? If we really do and we are not, we are doing the wrong things. Some times good things can be wrong because they aren’t helping us accomplish our mission. We need to change the way we spend our time. What kind of things change a campus, a city, a country or the world? Or better, Who can change a campus, a city and the world? Only Jesus. The only way we can participate in these changes is to be like Him, to do the things He is doing.

13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.- Matthew 5:13-16

You are the salt of the earth.
Salt changes things. Salt is a preservative. It helps things last longer. It gives flavor and richness to make everything it touches better. Salt is essential to life and health. Salt brings healing and was an essential part of sacrifice and covenants.
Leviticus 2:13 Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.

God uses salt to change cities and bring life back to land and revive its springs.
2 Kings 2:19-21 The men of the city said to Elisha, "Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive."
"Bring me a new bowl," he said, "and put salt in it." So they brought it to him.
Then he went out to the spring and threw the salt into it, saying, "This is what the LORD says: 'I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.' "

If salt loses it’s saltiness it is worthless and is thrown out. How can salt lose its saltiness? It can’t physically lose its saltiness or lose its chemical properties which make it salt, but salt is only called salty when it is compared to something that is not salty. When salt is surrounded by salt, it is no longer salty. Another interesting thing about salt is that while in moderation it has many different uses and benefits, while it necessary to life, too much salt is death. The most salty places in the world are worthless and devoid of their purpose. The Dead Sea is dead because it is too salty, no fish can live in it. Too much salt is bad for your health. Land covered with salt is useless for growing crops and is just trampled by men.

How do we be salt? Salt is valuable when it is lightly scattered upon non salt. A group of Christians that are involved in their campus and involved with their roommates with the ultimate goal of sharing this good news are salt. If the group is meeting four or five times week then they are not spending time showing their classmates what salt is like. The salt looses its saltiness. It is worthless and dead. Instead of bringing life to the campus, it brings death to those in the group.
You are the light of the world

Light changes things. Light changes darkness. Light promotes life and growth. Light changes people’s attitudes and hearts. Its effects are seen most clearly in the darkest places.
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness [a] will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
Isaiah 58:6-12

Being light and salt involves us going to the dark and dead places. It involves proclaiming the gospel with both good news and good deeds.

Acts 13:47For this is what the Lord has commanded us: " 'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.' "
If we aren’t regularly sharing, people won’t see the light and become new. There will be no change. We will be useless light, the kind that is hidden under a bowl, bed or bushel.

Luke 8:16"No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.
Hidden light is worthless. How do we show our light?

Isaiah 58:9b-10 "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. –Extend grace to the world that doesn’t deserve it. Sow the seed of the good news through a lifestyle of light-sharing the good news through words and deeds. Who is hurting on your campus? Who are the people that most people avoid? Do you know what is happening on your dorm floor? Can you go and take out each room’s trash one day a week to show them the light within you? Do your teachers know you are a believer? Do they like you? Is there a way that you can serve them? What about the guards at the gate? What are their names? Could you greet them by name every day and give them a bottle of water when it’s hot? What about the workers at the canteen or those who clean the floors and take out the trash? What do they think about you? What are their names and interests? Could you buy them an ice cream or help them with their work? It is amazing what happens when you call someone by name and say thank you.

As you walk in light as he is light, the results are self evident. People come to know the Lord and life springs up where there was no life before. And those new believers who have been changed through the light of your life begin to change the campus and world as well. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. Isaiah 9:2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death [a] a light has dawned.

Cal's luck increases--moves to #2!

2007-10-08T22:26:00.000-06:00

What a delight to watch Stanford knock off #1 USC on Saturday night...(followed by the Rockies sweeping the Phillies in the National League Championship Series!). How does a team that is favored to win by over 40 points (USC) lose to a team that went 1-11 last year? Here's my theory: If you play / played sports you'll understand. In most every game, some athletes play very well, most give an average performance and a couple perform below par. If you play a 12 game season, you will well remember your best game of the year and...your worst game of the year. In Saturday's game, no doubt every Stanford player will say he played his best game of the year against USC. Conversely, every USC player will say individually played his worst game. It's this mismatch that allows these type of upsets that happened this year when Appalachian State beat Michigan and Colorado upset Oklahoma.

But one way or another Cal is ranked #2--the highest ranking since Pappy Waldorf was the coach in 1951. It looks like our prayers for good luck may be answered.

From the Cal Website:
Poll Positions
A bye week, coupled with a USC 24-23 loss to Stanford, helped the Golden Bears move up one spot in both the AP and USA Today polls to No. 2 in the country. The last time Cal was ranked higher than No. 2 was the Oct. 16th ranking in 1951 when the Golden Bears climbed to No. 1 following a victory over Washington State. The Bears held that ranking for one week before losing to USC. California has now been ranked in the AP poll for 24 straight weeks and 50 of the last 54 weeks of rankings. The Bears have been ranked in the top three just eight times in the last 68 years. Overall, Cal has been ranked in the top three 15 times, including seven straight weeks being ranked in the top two during 1937, the second year of the AP poll. The 1937 team, coached by legendary Stub Allison, captured Cal's last football national championship after defeating Alabama, 13-0, in the 1938 Rose Bowl.

Rockies on a Roll!

2007-10-03T21:29:00.001-06:00

What a treat to see the Rockies beat San Diego Monday evening--in the bottom of the 13th to clinch a spot in the playoffs. Some say it was the loudest cheering ever heard at a Denver sporting event. Play the video and decide for yourself. With foresight Liz scored $9 ticket for the family. With today's win in Philadelphia, the Rockies have won 14 of the last 15 games!

Cal gets REALLY lucky...Beats Oregon 31-24

2007-09-29T17:05:00.000-06:00

Cal really got lucky today...due to a couple of timely interceptions and a fumble on the Cal 3" line with 16 seconds to go in the game. Wow! The Bears are now 5-0 against a very, very good Oregon team. First win at Oregon since 1987!

Now w/ #3 Oklahoma losing to CU (Go Buffs), its been a great day.

Great Evening

2007-09-21T23:17:00.001-06:00

The weather in Colorado was beautiful tonight. I met Liz, son and family, Jeff, Ashlie and Gentry, along with good buddy George at Pasta Jays to celebrate Ashlie's 24th Birthday. While waiting for a table, I struck up with Arlo Stott--WWII Marine Corp veteran who pointed to his ring and said, "I saw them raise the flag." And then in answer to my probing retold the battle of Iwo Jima and taking Surabachi. Found out some amazing things. Of the 21,000 Japanese soldiers only 8 survived to surrender. A marine was killed or wouned every 45 seconds of the first two days of the battle. Jeff, who served a year as a gunner in Iraq also had the chance to talk with him. I think I read that 1200 WW II vets are dying every day so this was quite an experience.

Afterwards we walked down the mall to see the CU football team and band parade down the Pearl Street Mall--just a great, warm evening.