The1814Project: Climate Change

I'll have a bit of a climate change as I travel to San Jeronimo, Honduras this week.
Makes packing kind of interesting.

The 1814 Project: initial trip

I leave for Honduras next week to begin this amazing journey of partnering with a small community in Honduras to help bring about community transformation.
The1814Project blog is here.

Here is the purpose and agenda for this trip:

Meeting with the Surveyors:
research teams have been going to homes and asking a lot of questions and gathering data in San Jeronimo, Honduras. Because this is the first time that we are doing this particular program we want to see what their feed back is about the things they found while doing the survey in the community. It is going to help us improve our skills and methods.

Luncheon with the Stakeholders:
We will meet with influential leaders/people (i.e. Mayor, business men, school directors, etc) in the community to find out how we can best serve them. we want to build a coalition with the community to show them that together we can make a difference.

Real Life Collection:
To get a better feel for the community and what their needs are but also so that your church can feel like they are connecting with this community even when they haven't been there yet, we want to collect bios/needs/pictures from about 50 different people in the community. People who have influence (teachers, policemen, etc). This is a time we simply meet a lot of people personally and begin to build a relationship with the community.

Partnership Presentation/Ceremony:
This is going to be a time when the vision is cast to the pastor's leadership. Book of Hope leadership will share a little bit, I will share a 10 minute message/vision/story that night as well. We will then take time to read and have parties sign and will frame the commitment for the local pastor who serves as the liaison.

Planning Breakfast:
We will begin to organize and target a few different areas we want to see change in the next few years. This will be a major planning time.

This is a huge two days on the ground in Honduras. Every single meeting and vision casting opportunity will be important. Follow the blog to keep up with all the updates.

Reading the Red

RED
I began a reading journey last night that is a little different than anything I've done before. I'm reading through the Gospels, but only the RED letters. I have a copy of Scripture that prints the words of Jesus in red. I know this is nothing new, but I felt compelled late last night to begin reading and rereading the words of Jesus.

Jesus told his followers to "go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

If people are to follow the teachings of Jesus, then I need to know them inside and out.
I want to read them over and over.
I want them to saturate my life.
I want to live them out.
I want to set the example.
I want to lead the way.

I threw my book away

Nine years ago I began a book. I began writing down the early notes, ideas, and dreams for my "first" book. It was going to be about using media in ministry. I have a journalism background. I have seen the power and persuasion of media. And in 2000 I believed the church was way behind in using media.

Today you can find many books and blogs about ministry and media.
I just never got around to fleshing mine all out.

So...my first book is in a dumpster today. The notepad didn't make the transition into my new office. It simply got filed in a big green dumpster outside of our church.

Don't worry world, I have more books buried deep in my heart.

Maybe for another day...

swag

I was at a men's leadership conference this weekend with about eight guys from First Assembly.
We walked out of there with a lot of swag. I think I brought home about 15 books.
(Not pictured: tiny sword envelope opener, tape measure, coffee cup, travel mug, pads of paper, and lots of pens.)



What conferences have you gone to that dish out the swag?

Ancient and Sacred Words

First Wednesday Service was a night of sacred and ancient Scripture. We celebrated God’s Word in music, prayer, and examination.

I taught and led people in praying THROUGH Scripture. It’s an amazing to pray God’s very word that can challenge us, encourage us, and instruct us.

Praying God’s Word is a very authentic way to interact with Him and allow Him to engage our lives.

We prayed through:
Matthew 6:9-13
Psalm 23
James 5:13-16
Psalm 141:1-4

Total saturation of God’s Word is powerful.
Through music, teaching, corporate reading, teaching, prayer and the physical environment, we were saturated.

football frenzy

Where did you watch the Super Bowl?