Craig Groeschel

In an age of skeptcism- mine included- we need people who live and speak clearly. I spent the morning here in Chiapas with a group of people with no hope. I listened, loved, helped and knew well that the church must be something different if hopeless, angry people are to be reached.

Several years ago I ran across LifeChurch.tv and Craig Groeschel and his team. This crew was more than a breath of fresh air for a pastor guy out of breath. They shot dozens of new ideas through my life and gave and gave to me in ways that were lifechanging.

In partucular they put me onto Seth Godin’s book “The Dip” which catalysed my third-third transformation.

Here are some things I like about LC and Groeschel–and factors that make them a light in darkness:

• -Honest and real–there is very little church talk and he is not afraid of issue–like pornography
• -Skill–this outfit uses the skills of the team and works as a team
• -Free and giving–they don’t beg for money and they don’t charge for stuff.
• -Lifechange–it is expected that lives will change and all is oriented that direction
• -Say no and keep it simple–one of their most valuable words seems to be no and there is not a ton of activities
• -Quality and current–things like buildings, printed stuff, websites are well done and likeable
• -They helped me and Grace Community at a time when we needed it

I am a traveler

More and more I know this deep reality that I am a created being- and I am just beginning to understand the nature of what the Creator put together. As far back as I can remember I looked at the horizon and dreamed. I was joyful when I wandered to new places. I wanted to find out what was on the back side of the woods. I ran places.

Just last night here in Mexico City I wandered about looking for something to eat but it wasn’t the food. It was the place, the people, the history.

So I am in the perfect job. This Authentic Mexico Travel deal is not just a business. It is an expression of a passion poured into me and it is a reflection of a design. Perfect.

Last week two little groups went through Copper Canyon and loved it- wrote and told me how they loved it.

And today three people (thank you Bishop Gwin) will show up here and as we wander about Puebla next week they will rant and rave about the wonders of the place.

And I will go to Chiapas in 8 days and begin the proces there and many people will light up with joy as they travel there over these next days and years.

The BIG BOOK of AA talks of a “broad highway” and I have every sense of being on it.

On the broad highway in Mexico City today.

I am an athlete, a runner

Lately I have been running more than usual and entering a series of races in small towns around Champaign Urbana. Each one is a 5K and the idea is that the old guy who has the lowest overall time gets an all area award.

So it has been helping me to affirm that in every sense I am an athlete. The book I follow affirms over and over that the main picture of my life is the life of an athlete. I want to write more about this later, but it is just one among a host of big realities that I have begun understanding a bit since retiring from 30 years in ministry. Why I didn’t really get it then I am not sure. But it is starting to make sense.

I like this quote from one of my favorite runners:

A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more.
Steve Prefontaine

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/steve_prefontaine.html#USl4uFE73o2seuqb.99

So any way to get ready for a 5K, here is a good routine:

Week	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
1	CT or Rest	3 x 400 IW	2 m run	30 min tempo	Rest	5 m run	30 min EZ
2	CT or Rest	4 x 400 IW	2 m run	30 min tempo	Rest	5 m run	35 min EZ
3	CT or Rest	4 x 400 IW	3 m run	30 min tempo	Rest	6 m run	35 min EZ
4	CT or Rest	5 x 400 IW	3 m run	35 min tempo	Rest	6 m run	40 min EZ
5	CT or Rest	5 x 400 IW	3 m run	35 min tempo	Rest	7 m run	35 min EZ
6	CT or Rest	6 x 400 IW	3 m run	40 min tempo	Rest	6 m run	40 min EZ
7	CT or Rest	6 x 400 IW	3 m run	40 min tempo	Rest	7 m run	45 min EZ
8	CT or Rest	3 m run	30 min tempo run	2 m run	Rest	Rest	5K Race!

Cancer Girl

She sang and danced and wept.
God made me.
God saved me.
I’m a believer.
I’m an achiever.
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
My soul says yes.
She is full of the Holy Ghost.
And cancer.
Love Corner.
March, 2012.

On the train in Philadelphia

Starting to get it..

For years I was involved in evangelical church work at every level. There are some basics that I was overjoyed to discover. The I studied them, loved them, began to learn and apply them, taught them, defended them.

Then I began to GET them.

Very simply they are:
1. I am deeply loved. Preferred, thought of, defended.
2. I am designed. And I am good at what I do.
3. I am the light of the world. Not my idea. Somebody way smarter than me stated this. I always took it to be a job. But it is more of an infusion of energy.

Let me say that I am just beginning to get some handle on these.

Cerocahui, Copper Canyon, Mexico

Last Last week I visited this incredible place…beyond belief. Our hosts were Albert and Francia Lopez. They have built several new little cabanas and they are very nice, clean, and with a mountain view.

The town is close to Copper Canyon…the views are breathtaking.

In the village is a 17th century cathedral.

For info on the fantastic journey on CHEPE across Copper Canyon, including this cool little town, contact me at 217.369.9897, or go to Mexico Outback Ltd.

 

 

 

Warrior

LifeChurch is in the second week of this huge series focused at men.  I see so many men just dissengaged…a waste.  Ironically they are typically swamped with problems. This quote which showed up on my wife’s whiteboard fits:

“Those who help plan the battle don’t battle the plan.”  

Twenty years from now…

This Mark Twain quote was in a recent Vine Lines article by Jim McArdle.

 

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did.

So throw off the bowlines.

Sail away from the safe harbor.

Catch the tradewinds in your sails.

Explore.

Dream.

Discover.”

I, like Jimmie, find this quote particularly incisive to my situation right now.

Next week I am off to Mexico and Copper Canyon.

Then we move who knows where.

Then off to the Sangres all summer.

“reJesus” the Church

 

 My son Luke sent this poem to me from a friend, Nathan Brown.

My exact sentiments…

Verb PlayWhen I’m forced to spend time around zealous minister types, I keep hearing the necessity of reaching out to the “unchurched.” The obvious implication being: we need to “church” the “unchurched.”

Now, this particular verbish usage of the word “unchurch” does not appear in my fairly large dictionary. What I do see is the transitive verb that means excommunicate. This definition is clearer to me. And it helps me organize my response:

Dear friends, our deepest need is not to “church” the “unchurched,” but to “dechurch” the “enchurched” — that is to say, the excessively “churched.”

God Save Me from Your Followers

has ceased to be a humorous bumper sticker. It is now a genuine fear for many of the “unchurched” to which you refer.

And as we look for solutions, a good place to start would be to “depolitic” “enchurched” leaders. But, in the end, [and while we’re in the practice of verbing up nouns] nothing — and I reiterate — nothing supercedes the desperate need for Christians to “reJesus” the church.

Nathan Brown nub@ou.edu

Bill Hybels

Just recieved this…

Shortly after I became a Christ follower an older man challenged me to find key verses in the Bible that might speak to specific situations that I would find myself in through the course of a normal day.  After identifying those critical verses and linking them to the challenges that may come my way, I decided to memorize the verses so that I could have them at my command.  Here was my early list:
 
When I needed wisdom to make an important decision….James 1:5, Proverbs 3:5-6.
When I was tempted to do wrong…1 Corinthians 10:13.
When I was running out of strength…Philippians 4;13
When I was getting anxious…Philippians 4:6-7
When I was getting short tempered…Ephesians 4: 32
When someone hurt or betrayed me and I wanted revenge…Romans 12:17
When I needed courage to point wandering friends toward faith in Christ…Colossians 4:2
When I wanted to live for eternity and not just for the temporal offerings of this world…Colossians 3:1
 
This is merely a partial list of Biblical weapons that I pack with me everyday.  Though I do not use all of them everyday, I use all of them enough that they stay fresh in my mind.  I honestly don’t know how I could make it through the rough patches that come my way without the fortification these truths offer me.  Are you packing too?

I am going through huge transitions now filled with opportunity to be fearful, angry, need for wisdom, etc.

I am packing!