The Sacred Echo

I just received in the mail today the latest book by Margaret Feinberg called The Sacred Echo. I agreed to review it on my blog and on Amazon.com, so it came for free!

I'm excited reading it after seeing the author talk about another book of hers, The Organic God, at the 722 service in Atlanta. As the back cover of The Sacred Echo says, "When God really wants to get your attention, he doesn't just whisper something once. He echoes...He echoes...He echoes..."

I've definitely seen that truth in the last few months with human trafficking and Cambodia.

Once I finish reading this book, I'll post a review.

For more information on Margaret Feinberg, go to her website.

EDIT: It's a signed copy. Cool!

Michael Frost on Missional Church

I'm a big fan of the book The Shaping of Things To Come by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch - it has revolutionized my thinking on church. I've heard a couple of talks by Hirsch, but never anything by Michael Frost until I found this, which was a talk given to some Presbyterians last year. It's a long video, but I think you'll find it worthwhile if you want to learn more about what it means to be a missional church. I thought his explanation of where the word "ecclesia" (the church) comes from and what our churches should be about was amazing (and very Rob Bell like).

The Silent Tsunami

My family and I signed up a couple of weeks ago to sponsor a child in Africa. I felt moved by the World Vision AIDS Experience tour - I ended up being HIV-negative (you have to see the tour to understand what that means, google World Vision Experience Tour and you can do some of it online).

Her name is Clementine, and she's from Rwanda. I picked her because she is five years old, just like my daughter.

Today I received this in my gmail inbox from World Vision:

-----

Dear Friend,

As a result of widespread drought, skyrocketing oil prices, international economic woes and the recent Asian disasters, a worldwide food shortage has developed that is even more deadly than previously imagined.

It's being called the "silent tsunami," a quiet yet severe crisis contributing to the deaths of more than an estimated 14,000 children each day. These defenseless children die slowly — and quietly — directly from starvation or indirectly from their inability to resist common diseases.

We can't allow their faint voices to go unheard. That's why I'm writing — to tell you there IS a way that, together, we can do something about this crisis right now.

-----

If you've ever thought of supporting a child - it costs something like $35 a month, which is pretty easy if you decide to quit something like me - say, coffee (at least going out for coffee) - right now is a pretty good time to do it because of all the children suffering from the worldwide food shortage.

To learn more and see a video, you can go here.

I'll post a picture of Clementine when I scan her picture into my computer.

Amen.

I believe that is John 13:35 in the ACLV (American Christian Laziness Version).

Pickleball

ABC did a feature recently about a "new" game that's sweeping the nation called Pickleball.

Posh.

First, it was invented in 1965, so it's not new. Secondly, we used to play this game all the time at my high school, which means it's definitely not new.

But I loved it in high school. Maybe I will pick it up again.

What is pickleball? It's a cross essentially between tennis and ping pong.

You can find more information here on this fun game.

Anti-Human Trafficking Websites

I'm encouraged at the amount of organizations out there that are trying to do everything they possibly can to end human trafficking, forced prostitution, and forced labor. Here are several of them:

The Salvation Army - I had no idea that the Salvation Army did anything about human trafficking. It once again tells me that this organization is amazing. I have two friends who were pastors in The Salvation Army (yes, it's a church), and they were amazing people.

Captive Daughters - this group focuses specifically on girls and women.

Coalition Against Trafficking of Women - another organization dedicated to helping women who are trafficked.

End Child Prostitution Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children For Sexual Purposes - wow, long name. But it's obvious what their mission is. We don't realize how much of this happens in the U.S., but it definitely does.

International Organization for Migration

The Polaris Project

The Projection Project - from Johns Hopkins University

Initiative Against Sexual Trafficking

U.S. Health and Human Services - has some good fact sheets about human trafficking.

Also, September 26-28 has been designated as a weekend of prayer and fasting for victims of sexual trafficking.

On August 17, at Life Church, we will be devoting a whole service to human trafficking. We will show the movie we saw at CIY called Baht, and we will tell our church about our trip to Cambodia next summer.

The Beatles As A Christian Band?

I've become a little more fascinated with The Beatles lately. I think part of it has to do with the whole "Paul McCartney is really dead" conspiracy, which you can find a bunch of videos on Youtube about. I've always liked their music, although I have never obsessed over them (I'm kind of becoming that way with Radiohead, however.) I thought this was an interesting article at the Think Christian blog:

The Beatles as a Christian band?
Posted July 14th @ 3:31 pm by Andy


Were the Beatles a Christian band? Most people would point to John Lennon’s public statements about the church, the song “Imagine,” and the infamous “bigger than Jesus” quip and raise their eyebrows. But a recently-unearthed interview with Lennon from 1969 suggests that John Lennon and the Beatles weren’t as hostile to Christianity as it’s been thought. What emerges from the interview is a fascination with the person of Jesus, combined with anger toward perceived church hypocrisy:

Christians around the world had been dismayed by Lennon’s boast in an article in London’s Evening Standard about the popularity of the Beatles, but the singer says he was misunderstood.
“It’s just an expression meaning the Beatles seem to me to have more influence over youth than Christ,” he says. “Now I wasn’t saying that was a good idea, ‘cos I’m one of Christ’s biggest fans. And if I can turn the focus on the Beatles on to Christ’s message, then that’s what we’re here to do.”

He blames “the hypocrites” for being too “uptight” in reacting to his comments. “If the Beatles get on the side of Christ, which they always were, and let people know that, then maybe the churches won’t be full, but there’ll be a lot of Christians dancing in the dance halls. Whatever they celebrate, God and Christ, I don’t think it matters as long as they’re aware of Him and His message.”

Lennon’s beliefs about Christ (going by the article) seem somewhat muddled, but he was clearly intrigued by Jesus and his message. It’s a shame that the stumbling block which kept Lennon from exploring Christianity further seems to have been… the church itself. The two examples he cites (being kicked out of church as a kid for laughing during a service, and being unable to marry in a church because he had divorced) are frustrating, because neither has much to do with the actual Gospel message. They’re examples of Christians treating him with a distinct lack of grace, even if the actions were justified.

I know some of you are big Beatles fans. Is this a new insight into Lennon’s spirituality? Have you detected a positive attitude toward Jesus in the Beatles’ music, and do you think things might have played out differently if Christians had shown more grace to Lennon and friends?

Re:Light

I've finally finished (for now) our youth page dedicated to the human trafficking epidemic in this world.

Check it out here and tell me what you think.

10 U.S. Places You Must See Before You Die

Hmmm, I better get cranking, since I've seen none of these except for a little bit of the Oregon coast.

1. San Francisco De Asis Church, Rancho De Taos, NM

2. Whaling Museum, Nantucket, Mass.

3. Battery District, Charleston, S.C.

4. Madison Valley, Montana

5. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

6. The Four Seasons Restaurant, New York City

7. The Rothko Chapel, Houston

8. The Huntington Gardens, San Marino, Calif.

9. Robie House (Frank Lloyd Wright, Chicago

10. The Oregon Coast

You can see descriptions of this list here.

Love146.org

I found another great organization whose passion is to stop human trafficking.

One of my favorite worship CD's of all time is by a band called Ten Shekel Shirt. The album is called Much, and there are some amazing songs on it. I knew that Lamont Hiebert, the lead singer and founder of Ten Shekel Shirt, was involved with YWAM - and although I do have their second CD called Risk, I never knew what happened to the band. They pretty much dropped off the face of the earth.

Now I know why. Hiebert went down to Southeast Asia and saw the horrible circumstances of the sex slavery and forced prostitution there, and so he founded an organization called Love146. He's also returning to the music front as well now, their new CD comes out in August.

I'm excited to take a look at love146.org to see what are doing and what I can do to join forces with them.

I Finally Updated...

My sidebar list of things I'm listening to and reading.

Right now I'm really excited about listening to Brooke Fraser (as seen below), and reading both Gary Haugen books.

Non-Coincidence #4,000

So I you've read my blog, you know about the whole Cambodia thing - that through the last year of reading about human trafficking, and then going to CIY and seeing a video about it, then going to a luncheon through an invitation by someone I hadn't seen seven years where the keynote speaker was the COO of International Justice Mission.

Here's the next thing.

We have a new family attending our church - they have some great kids, two of them went with us to our local amusement park on Friday. I was talking with the dad after church today.

He goes every year to Cambodia to work with an orphanage that rescues girls. He has a good friend who can translate for us. They partner with a local church. He would be able to help us with all the trip stuff for next summer.

God is amazing.

Interesting Questions, I Guess...

1. What was I doing ten years ago?

It was 1998. I was working at my home church which at the time wasn't a megalopolis like it is now. We would have been on our way right now to CIY in California. Debby and I had been married for a year and a half. Our church was getting ready to move to my home town. Yeah, things were crazy back then.

It's weird to think of how much has happened in ten years. Wow, is it weird. I've lived in three different states, four different ministries, our wonderful daughter was born. Crazy.


2. 5 things on my "to do" list:

1. Take my broken guitar into the guitar shop. It broke in April when someone knocked it over at church. Yeah, it was the new guitar I bought right before I left Ohio. The neck is broken.

2. Get ready for Noelle's second birthday party (her first was with family in Maryland)

3. Try to prepare myself for Sunday, since I will be seeing my stepfather for the first time since before Noelle was born. He has never met my daughter. We had a falling out.

4. Get ready for Sunday morning stuff.

5. Contact missions organizations about going to Cambodia next summer.


3. Snacks I enjoy:

I really like vanilla yogurt with granola on top.
Breakfast cereals


4. Five things I'd do if I were a billionaire:

Use most of it in an effort to stop human trafficking.
Buy a new car - not an expensive one, but new.
I don't know other than that - I'm pretty satisfied with what I have.


5. My 5 bad habits: (Only 5?)

Interrupting.
Chewing my nails.
Being neurotic sometimes about what people think of me.
Bad mouthing other drivers.
Procrastinating.


6. Places I've lived:

born in Aurora, CO
Parker, CO
Fullerton, CA
Tucson, AZ
Denver, CO
Dallas, TX
Surprise, AZ
Springboro, OH
and now Aurora, CO. Everything comes full circle.


7. Five jobs I've had:

I mowed lawns in high school. 20 bucks a lawn, 5 lawns a week, pretty sweet money.
I worked at Round Table Pizza my freshman year of college. Good pizza, bad job.
I worked at Dairy Queen in between my freshman and sophomore year of college. Great hours, great benefits (all the ice cream you can eat), bad job because it was by Fiddler's Green and so we got swamped after every concert.

And after that, I've had ministry positions.

What If Worship Was Like An NBA Game?

It might be like this.

World Vision Experience

I just got back from a luncheon that I got invited to last night. I no longer believe in coincidences, especially when it comes to my passion to help eliminate human trafficking. I thought I was just going to a World Vision AIDS awareness luncheon and experiential tour - but it was more than that.

The keynote speaker was Scott Lewis, who is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of International Justice Mission. IJM helps prosecute those who exploit women and children in the sex trafficking big business around the world. See the connection?

I got a chance to meet Scott after his talk, and I'm excited about the possibility of partnering with IJM in helping get rid of sex trafficking around the world.

Here are my notes that I took during his message:

- There are two standards by which we judge events in the world: NEAR and FAR. Unfortunately, for most of us, things have to hit close to home in order for us to act upon a problem.

- when we take action, it gets us out of the world of US and OURS.

- IJM is a collection of lawyers and advocates who take cases of violence against people in developing nations and seek justice for them.

- a seldom talked-about aspect of the AIDS pandemic is the problem of human violence and sexual violence.

- millions of widows and orphans due to violence. 61% of new infections in women in Nigeria are due to sexual violence.

- 78% of South African women have been forced into sex.

- In sub-saharan countries, more than 25% of womens' sexual experiences are forced.

- Between 1 and 2 million girls between the ages of 5 and 15 are introduced into sex trafficking every year.

- Hebrews 13 - Remember those who are suffering as if you were the one who was suffering.

- What we can do: (1) bring rescue and restore the victims; (2) bring perpetrators to justice; (3) train pastors and community leaders to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the victims; (4) build the effectiveness capacity of the local justice system.

- 6,000 children become orphans due to AIDS deaths every day in the world.

- When God drives out fear, joy comes back to victims of fear.


It was an amazing thing today. I also bought a couple of books by Gary Haugen, who is the founder and president of International Justice Mission. One is called "Good News About Injustice", and the other is brand new and is called "Just Courage." Haugen will be speaking at the Leadership Summit at Willow Creek next month, I will definitely have to get that CD.

And oh yeah, the experiential tour - didn't get to do that yet, because it was pretty busy - but I signed up for next Monday. You can do the online experiential tour here. Just go to the downloads at the top of the page, click on it, and you will see the online experience.

Brooke Fraser

You may have heard of Brooke Fraser - since 2006, she has been part of the Hillsong United worship band - her most familiar songs are probably None But Jesus and Hosanna (which we're doing again this Sunday).

Well, she just recently released her first CD for the US, and it's amazing.

You can go to her her website for more information, or just go on iTunes - her CD was the fifth most downloaded CD of last week. You can get her CD, Albertine, for only $5.99 right now. It's worth ten times that much.

To preview some of the songs, go to her myspace page and check her out.

You know how much of a Once evangelist I was when I finally saw that movie. Now I'm a Brooke Fraser evangelist - you won't be disappointed! (especially if you're a Sarah McLachlan fan, which she reminds me of)

Twelve Hallmarks of a Missional Church

1. The missional church proclaims the gospel.

2. The missional church is a community where all members are involved in learning to become disciples of Jesus.

3. The Bible is normative in this church's life.

4. The church understands itself as different from the world because of its participation in the life, death and resurrection of its Lord.

5. The church seeks to discern God's specific missional vocation for the entire community and for all of its members.

6. A missional community is indicated by how Christians behave toward one another.

7. It is a community that practices reconciliation.

8. People within the community hold themselves accountable to one another in love.

9. The church practices hospitality.

10. Worship is the central act by which the community celebrates with joy and thanksgiving both God's presence and God's promised future.

11. This community has a vital public witness.

12. There is a recognition that the church itself is an incomplete expression of the reign of God.

- GOCN report on the missional church, as reported in The Shaping Of Things To Come (yes, I'm reading that book again.)

At The Towson, Maryland Parade, We Met...

The crew from Charm City Cakes - the bakery featured in the Food Network show Ace of Cakes.

Here's Duff:



Here is my sister-in-law and family with Duff and Elena:



And here is Noelle with Duff (it was really loud at the parade), afterward he gave her a big high five:

Happy Fifth Birthday

To my wonderful amazing beautiful daughter Noelle.

Your daddy loves you!