Looking for a Mission? Pick One.

I recently returned from a board meeting of 3:18 Ministries in nice & warm Globe, AZ. 3:18 is a ministry to the Apache people of the San Carlos Reservation, showing the love of Jesus in a place where it's all too rare. While I missed interacting with a couple members who couldn't make it to the meeting, I really enjoyed the time with the rest of us, not to mention the escape from the gray NE winter to a couple days of green (which was a little surprising for me - I forgot that color existed) and AZ sun. More than that, it was great to spend a couple days dreaming and discussing and clarifying what God is doing through 3:18. The hope and vision in the lives of 3:18's board are contagious! I have little claim to earn membership in such an awesome group of kingdom servants, but I'm humbled and thankful to get to spend some time and effort and prayer with them. Through God's power working on the reservation, parents are learning how to lead and love their children, families are gaining more suitable housing, and children who think they're not wanted are learning how precious they really are to their Maker. God's love is being made known in the actions of His people and even bigger developments are on the horizon for 3:18. I can't wait to see where God takes us all!


The trip got me thinking again about this post I'd started several months ago about some missions that matter to me and my family. We give to these ministries, in terms of finances, time, prayer, and effort. We see God at work in these ministries and want to be able to help in any way we can. Maybe you can help, too. In addition to 3:18, would you be praying for these Kingdom efforts? Take some time to look into what they do and see if God has some role for you to play in their work.

Sparrow's Nest - A few years ago, our small group piled into Forest (as we dubbed our green church van) and drove to the West Coast for Catalyst. (It's interesting to me that after all the miles I've driven those vans, it took a small group of adults to give one a name!) We were joined by my friend, Tory (of the previously mentioned 3:18), and a friend of one of our group's couples, Carissa. While our initial contact was tainted by the lingering effects of the "Mile High Tamale" incident, it was a joy to meet Carissa and see how she's responding to a dream planted in her by God. That dream has become The Sparrow's Nest in St. Charles, MO. The mission of The Sparrow's Nest is "to provide Christ centered shelter and to educate homeless, pregnant, and parenting young women." They want to empower young mothers to make positive life decisions for themselves and their babies. It's been amazing to see God work as Carissa has pulled together a team to build this much needed 'nest' in the St. Louis area. Visit their site to check out their story - maybe you'll find a place in it, too.

Nebraska Christian College - Getting married right after high school was a no brainer for LuAnn and I. We were going off to college hundreds of miles from anyone we'd ever known and there was tremendous encouragement in doing that together. From July of 1994, when we landed at the empty campus (the only ones I remember being around were two other couples a few years ahead of us, and Humphrey, who couldn't go home for the summer because home was Malawi and he needed to work to pay for the next semester) until May of 1998, when I graduated and a well placed dart landed in Loveland, CO - NCC was our first home. Some of our deepest relationships were forged there and some of our most formative growth was instigated there. We've supported NCC ever since as the college continues to train servant leaders who know Christ and are making Him known. Though the place where all that college magic happened for us has been left behind for another location, the college continues to be an exciting part of what God is doing and we continue to be excited by just what He is doing through NCC.

Compassion - Very early in our marriage, we wanted to establish that our lives, our jobs, & our income would never just be about us. Whatever God brought our way, we wanted to be willing to use it for His glory and someone else's benefit. Compassion was one of our first outlets for doing exactly that. Through Compassion's child sponsorship program we've been able to help kids in a couple Latin American countries, Haiti, and Kenya with names like Pilar, Imacuelease, & Wairegi find hope in the name of Jesus.  I've also enjoyed getting our youth ministry students involved with Compassion, raising money for hunger and AIDS relief, or pulling a few friends together to sponsor a child of their own. We once had a talent show to raise money for mosquito nets, where our duct-tape-wearing friend Theresa joined a couple sisters and friends for a hilarious Burger King skit - before she traded the paper crown in for one with more diamonds at the Miss America pageant of 2011. Compassion is changing the story for thousands of kids living in poverty throughout the world. They have a special day of emphasis coming up called Compassion Sunday in April - check it out and find out how you and your church can rewrite some stories, too.

Youth Ministry - This may go without saying, but youth ministry is incredibly important to me and my family. After 4 years of college and 12 years of being a youth pastor, I still love seeing students living life as disciples and learning to be the church God is calling them to be. I still love it when they start to understand how deeply Jesus loves them and to allow Him to shape their lives. I hope I will never join the masses in losing that enthusiasm for teens. I hope you'll join me in praying for the teens in and around your own life. They need you to care enough to invest your life in them. Get to know them and find out how you can reach into their lives. Do the work of a missionary, reaching across generations to understand and to build bridges. You probably won't see huge dividends immediately, but do it anyway - bring God's Kingdom to their tribe.

There are many other ministries that we care about and continue to pray for. I think of Marilyn and Connie and their family in South Africa (long time family friends back to my grandpa's generation), and Hudson (a former student) and his family preparing to reach into places to which most of us are too afraid or ill-prepared to reach. I think of other former students who are carrying Christ with them in youth ministries and IT departments and construction sites and nuclear plants, as well as friends and family planting churches in exotic places like New Zealand and North Dakota as well as Wyoming and South Dakota. There are many others being the church in big cities and small towns closer to home. I think of Northwest Haiti Christian Mission, where some of our WestWay family go a couple times each year to offer hope. When I stop to think about it, I'm humbled to be a part of such a diverse fellowship of people who've taken up Christ's mission to reconcile, to seek what has been lost and restore people to the relationship with God that we are created for.
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What are some of the ministries in which you and your family are involved? How do you help them? What's God up to there?

3:18

Love Is In Action!

Since today's the day of love... I just thought it was a good time to post a link to my friends Tory & Kara of 3:18 Ministries.

The Satters are a family that live out 1 John 3:18 as well as anyone I know. Just in case you're not familiar with that verse, it's the one where John told early Christians (and us) to not just keep saying we love each other, but to actually do something that shows it.

John didn't have pajama-grams and roses in mind (though, who doesn't like a good set of footy-PJs?). 3:18 Ministries is all about putting love into action in the San Carlos/Globe area of AZ. Check out the link to 3:18 and see what God's been doing. Pray for the Satters today as they bring hope where there is little of it. (And maybe send them a box of chocolates, too!)

A Banquet Surprise

I was looking forward to getting to speak at a Valentine banquet back in Casper this weekend. So Saturday night, we headed downtown to this little spot the church had booked and settled in for a good time. I noticed, as we sat there stacking conversation hearts, that a crowd was starting to gather just inside the front door. "Surely, the restaurant's not open for regular dining." I thought.

I was right... sort of. As more people filled the entry, and servers and hostesses began to look more and more flustered, it became obvious that something wasn't quite right. As it turns out, the venue had double booked. I don't know how, and I don't know why, but there was a whole group of people waiting to party while we waited for prime rib.

It made for what has to be the most awkward speaking engagement I've ever had. To be totally honest, it was almost surreal, and I'm not sure I made any sense at all. Any semblance of order to my message was overshadowed with so many other thoughts racing through my head. I've never been the 'bull-horn to the face' kind of guy - I missed the "Preaching to the Open Bar" class at Bible College, so the whole time I was speaking (about how our love is revealed by our action not mere words) I just kept thinking "The whole back room is waiting for you to shut up and leave."

Now, to be fair, the gathering crowd did nothing to make me feel that way. They quietly milled from the small back room into which they'd been stuffed to the bar to order drinks and back. A few sat and quietly chatted at the bar. But the noise level wasn't any worse than a typical Wed. night with my students. It was just the awkwardness of the situation that made things so weird. I felt stuck between a group of church banqueters looking for some spark of inspiration or encouragement and a group of party-goers just wanting to relax and have a good time.

As I think of it now, I should have just invited them all out and did 20 minutes of stand up or something... I'm not sure I could have pulled that off, and I know that's not really what I was invited for, but I wish I would have thought of that in the moment. I wonder if the message would've been communicated more effectively that way anyway...

The  more I think about this, the more I'm feeling like I really missed an opportunity to build some bridges and help make some connections. Excuse me, while I go kick myself...
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Just for the record, I'm grateful for the invitation to come and speak to a great group of gracious friends. I pray the thoughts racing through my head didn't cloud the message too much. We are loved so much by our Creator, who adopts us into His own family. We are called to extend that love in every way we can think of, not just with words but with action. Caring for orphans, widows, neighbors... Check out my friends at 3:18 Ministries or Sparrow's Nest for some great examples of how it can be done - and find a way to put your love into action.

Pulled Together

We had a great night with our student ministry Wed. night. We did an open mic night where I encouraged the students to share what God had been teaching them that they could pass on to the rest of us. There were some really good comments shared by the students and even more after we were done. It is awesome to see the students really taking ownership of their faith and responding to what they see God doing around them. They want to be a part of His mission! I'm excited to see them continue to grow and to see what God will do as more hearts are open to Him.

Last night followed that up with a good time with our small group. We haven't all been together for a while, so it was great to meet again. There was nothing too urgent on the agenda, but it was great just to get together to talk and pray together and to bring together some resources to send to a great ministry's (3:18 Ministries) Christmas project. It's awesome to be brought into community with people with a pretty wide range of backgrounds & interests to encourage each other as we join God in His mission, and to be pulled into His momentum.

God is on the move in our community of faith. He's at work to rescue what's been wandering... to find what's been hiding. Today as I sit here reflecting on what's been a pretty good week, I'm so thankful to be able to be a part of it.

Writing Better Stories

I'm stealing some statements from my friend Tory's blog. These are statements from a training video he's used in working on the San Carlos Apache Reservation.  Tory is working through an organization called 3:18 Ministries to bring hope where there is little hope.  These statements are the statements of a generation without hope. This is how so many of the young people in San Carlos view life:

  1. There is no future.

  2. I think I can't.

3:18 Ministries

"...let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth." 

These words, taken from 1 John 3:18 lie at the heart of a new ministry to the Apache people of San Carlos called 3:18 Ministries. The ministry has been born out of a desire to see new life rise on the reservation as people don't just hear about God's love, but truly experience it. My good friend Tory, has started a blog to keep us posted on what's going on with 3:18 as work groups come and as the full cast of the 3:18 team comes together.

As a board member, I'd really appreciate your prayers for this venture.  Pray especially for the Satters, as they pilot our way forward in this and pray for God to bring the right people to the right places within the organization.

Check out the 3:18 blog, be praying for God's love to be tangible to the San Carlos Apache, and think about what you can do to make it that way...