NEWS FROM THE FIELD (houses)

Another sad story

This is not nearly as sad as the previous story but this is sad in another way.  This is a picture from the dash of my 1997 Honda Civic.  I just crossed over the 100K mark today!  Wow.  I bought this car when I started going to Fuller Seminary for the long commutes and it has been a great car.  One of those 'just put gas in it and go' kind of cars!  Exactly what we bought it for.  I'm just having a moment here reflecting on all the good times we had together.  200K here we come...       

60 minutes

Tonight at 8:00 PM on "60 Minutes" they are going to do a spot on some of the mainstream music artists of today that are followers of Christ.  They are not necessarily singing songs about Jesus per say but they are often very vocal about their faith.  It definitely seems to be more common place for some reason these days at the highest levels of entertainment.  And they are really good musicians/singers too that I actually listen to.  Some of my favorite artists, P.O.D., Kanye West (up for more grammys than anyone else!) & Third Day are going to be interviewed.  I know that I tend to have a negative bias against listening to Christian artists in general (too many days working at a Christian bookstore and spending all of my pay on buying cd's) and it is good to hear more and more good music on the secular stations on the radio coming from people who just happen to be my brothers or sisters in Christ.  I love to hear about ordinary folks like you and I who take their faith and let it emerge naturally from whatever missional context they find ourselves in.  Anyone else catch the show?  If so, let me know your thoughts on the interviews...   

I am not your typical follower of Jesus

Did you know that more than 80% of the Christians in the world today are non-white, non-western and non-nothern?  I am all three of those!  I'm a minority in the current Christian landscape.  Further evidence that we here in the West just might not be the "best game in town" in every aspect of life like we so often think.  A little Godly humilty and repentence might be called for here.  In order to get a better sense of what God is up to in the world today maybe we really need to listen to, learn from and observe how God is moving through the majority of his followers, my brothers and sisters in Christ, around the world. 

Check out this article: 10 largest churches in the world

I'm made the top 10

I have the 10th highest points per game average in the basketball league that I play in on Sunday nights.  Every week they pass out a sheet to all of the teams with the schedule, standings and running totals for things like total points, most 3-pointers, etc.  This week my name was listed as #10 on the total points per game list with 14 points per game.  Check me out!  Ok, so what if I am only #10.  Ok, so what if this league is comprised of many people who are in their middle 40's.  Ok, so what if it is a 6'5" and under league and I am 6'8" with my b-ball shoes on :) .  I already knew that I make up for in height what I lack in talent.  So what.  I made the top 10!  Reminds me of the days long ago when I used to swing the old club around on the links with my friend Tiger here in Long Beach.  Back when I was 11 I got my name written up in the local paper when I came in third place in a tournament that we played in together.  Guess who got first.   

Pray for a friend of mine whose name is Jason.  This b-ball team is actually put together by a friend of mine from Crossroads (Ross Yamaguchi.  He and his wife are on the Crossroads Regional Ministry Team).  The team is primarily focused on playing basketball but it is also made up of mostly of guys who have yet to trust Christ.  That is why I invited Jason.  He is a great guy with a great wife and two young boys the same ages as my girls.  I have known him for about a year now and have rejoiced in seeing how my aroma has seriously impacted his household.  No, not that aroma!  If I went to their house after a game I would wilt their plants as I walked by!  See what I mean in the following post.  I am begging the Lord for his household's souls to be reconciled with God!  Would you join me?  Thanks!      

You Smell!!

This morning I visited one of our supporting churches to be a part of their Missions Sunday.  New Life Community Church in Artesia, CA is actually the church of my youth (New Life Community Church ).  They have been supporters of us in many ways over the past few years.  Even though they are going through a challenging season of life together, it was good to be able to go there and pray for God's blessings on them and their Kingdom work.      

"For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing."  2 Cor 2:15  This was the passage of the morning.  Love it!

Grant Approved

Wow.  Praise the Lord.  We just got the news that we have been approved for a three year grant from the Mustard Seed Foundation for Kingdom Causes.  This is our second grant that we have secured in the past few months and we are feeling even more empowered now to do what we sense the Lord calling us to do.  Humbly speaking, we are two for two in our grant writing efforts.  This granting world is a whole new thing for me (and some other Kingdom Causes folks) and it is really encouraging when people believe so much in your vision that they are willing to back it financially with some serious amounts of cash.  I have had a strong sense of this personally as we have been raising monthly support for many years now but there is never the pressure of "selling of the vision" as much as there is when you are working with funding boards and organizations where you have limited or no relational context. 

There is concern in the non-profit world about organizations 'chasing money' by tailoring their vision statement/mission to match what the funding organizations give to.  We have committed to listen to the Lord first and then seek funding for the vision only if it is needed.  The mustard seed folks at first denied our proposal but upon further review and additional communication from our end they fully endorsed it.  We knew that what we were proposing was a pretty radical paradigm shift from many other proposals that they were looking at so we really had to work to help them grasp a sense of where we are going.  We really believe that the Lord has positioned us well and is giving us increased favor here in the LA Basin for some serious Kingdom inroads over the next year.  It should be an exciting 2005!   

Up late putting on the finishing touches

Tomorrow morning I will be offering the prayer for the nation, state and city at the Annual Long Beach Leadership Prayer Breakfast. It sounds a little funny to say that I am “putting finishing touches on my prayer” but that is exactly what I am doing. I hope and pray that the time together tomorrow with many local city officials, leaders and servants of all kinds will be fruitful in many ways. Although these gatherings at times have been known to be a little heavy handed when it comes to the “invite them for breakfast and then jump them with Jesus” approach to the Gospel presentation (I confess that I have been critical at times!) but there is actually a lot of Kingdom good that comes from these gatherings. www.pbnet.org

Community Transformation definition:

“Community transformation is a condition of dramatic, social, and political renewal that results from God’s people entering into a corporate vision, corporate repentance and corporate prayer until God’s Kingdom pervades virtually every institution of human endeavor.” - George Otis, Jr

I like that. That is thick! That is what I am praying for tomorrow at the prayer breakfast! Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, here in Long Beach, CA as it is in heaven.

When I hear that I start to think of some of the biblical characters like Moses, Daniel, Elijah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, the early church, Jesus and more. Next step: need to flesh out some of these examples as they relate to Kingdom pervasion.

World Population Snap Shot

Check out this startling global reality. 40% of the world lives in two countries, China and India, while only 4.5% live in the United States. I plan on seeing this first hand when I travel to India early next year.

They didn't chase me away :)

Whew! I had my first meeting this afternoon with the LBPD Chaplain team. I was a little nervous because I have heard stories about a couple people not being welcomed back after their first visit with the team. I got there early and tried to personally introduce myself to everyone who looked religious or was packing iron. It must have paid off because they invited me to join them again at their next meeting. I have to attend two more meetings and get a background check before I am officially considered to join the team. We actually only met with the command staff today because Chief Batts had to go to an unplanned meeting with Lee Baca and the LA Times about a story that was going to hit the paper tomorrow. It was very interesting to see the police officers interact with these various local religious leaders from the community. There was a recent incident at a local hospital where one of the clergy team, the Sikh representative (Mr Jatinder Singh), had sent someone to respond to a local hospital and they wore their ceremonial dagger under their jacket. Supposedly all true Sikh's wear these as a reminder of their need to "fight for justice" wherever it needs to be defended. See where this is going? A hospital staff member saw the tip flashing under their jacket and immediately notified security. I guess all heck broke loose in the hospital trying to find this individual! The police make sure that they have these discussions in front of the rest of the clergy team to make sure that they are staying above board and that we are instructed about proper procedures for all agents of the police department. (Note to self: leave all weapons behind when visiting local hospitals!)