Acts 2:45 – “They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.”

CNN – Hundreds . . . thousands . . . maybe tens of thousands dead . . .

Acts 4:33 – “And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy person among them.”

CNN – People buried . . . no electricity . . . sense of terror . . .

So I hurried through the text, pointing out in the beginning that Acts is about the early church doing — by the power of the Resurrected One — what Jesus had taught and practiced in Luke. Then at the end, we talked about Haiti. About its lack of safety net (no fire department to call if your baby is trapped, no 911 to call if your spouse is bleeding to death), about its extreme poverty (poorest country in the Western hemisphere), but also about its pockets of deep faith.

We threw up baskets at the doors, and the class dropped in $763 plus about $20 in change. Then four of them counted the money quickly, and took it to ACU administrators (who are always anxious for the students to be involved in urgent needs like this). I think the whole student body will be given a chance to join in this contribution.

How about you? Haiti depends on our response. As Nicholas Kristof wrote, “Today we are all Haitians.”

Perhaps your church has some connections there. If not, I have a lot of confidence in the good people at Manna Global Ministries. They have people who’ve lived in Haiti, who are fluent in Creole, who know the culture, who will be there tomorrow. Keep an eye on their website for specific ways to help.

“We’ve tried Graham crusades, Promise Keepers, Willow Creek Church, Saddleback’s four bases, the ’small group’ movement in every conceivable arrangement, Alpha, 40-Days of Everything, and house church. Yet we continue to lose the people we have while failing to reach the ones we don’t have.”

If you can identify, raise your hand!

Yes, yes, we know how to attract people from other churches. We know the services to offer, the programs to perfect.

But what about the growing segment that is completely unreached — by traditional church, simple church, house church, emergent church, etc.?

What would it be like, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay wonder in The Tangible Kingdom, if we began to envision the place of the church more in the midst of the world and less in a cloistered assembly?

What if we quit spending large amounts of time trying to perfect our assemblies? What if we took our lead from Jesus in the gospels — from the one who created a scandal by being with people who weren’t approved by the clergy? What if we disbanded church softball teams and church aerobics and church book clubs — and asked people to join similar groups out in the world? What if we quit trying so hard to protect our kids from “the world”? What if we quit trying to put our “time, effort, and communication into . . . doing church stuff in a different style”?

“Church,” the authors claim, “must not be the goal of the gospel anymore. Church should not be the focus of our efforts or the banner we hold up to explain what we’re about. Church should be what ends up happening as a natural response to people wanting to follow us, be with us, and be like us as we are following the way of Christ.”

This book — recommended to me by Randy Harris who said I had to read it — has 180 pages. There are about seventy pages in the middle that I found uninspiring at times; perhaps a bit overgeneralized. But there are about forty on the front end and seventy on the back end that are provocative, challenging, and hopeful.

From their experience as leaders in the Adullam community in Denver and as church consultants, the authors keep pressing the practical implications of the missional church movement. Less theory; more “this is what this looks like in action.” I know lots of people who are weary of hearing the experts talk about the theory of missional church — experts who rarely give examples of what this is looking like in their own lives. The stories in this book come out of yesterday and today. Real stories of people seeking to live in the world on behalf of Jesus. The point isn’t that a church should be large or small — but that it should be incarnational and missional.

Hearing those terms a lot but wondering what they mean? This could be your book.

So, what can be done? Check out this amazing plan. You can read more on the Kibo Group website.

Here’s a bit from the site:

MANA is a response to the scourge of malnutrition. We’re jumping right into the middle of intense suffering as a mother holds her dying child in her arms. We’re offering her hope in a product that has been proven time and again to have a dramatic positive impact on the health of children just like hers. But we’re not stopping there.

MANA is a response to root cause of malnutrition: Poverty. We’re establishing local manufacturing facilities in developing countries, employing local people, and using as many local ingredients as possible. We’re intent on creating sustainable businesses that will help grow healthy families and communities.

Here’s just another example: you can now receive an MRE degree in missional leadership through (primarily) online courses. Mark Love — fresh out of his doctoral program in this area from Luther Seminary in St. Paul — is going to lead the program. I can’t think of anyone better for the position.

Check out their brand new website here. You can also receive more info by writing Mark at mlove@rc.edu.

Here’s the announcement:

This story is an increasingly familiar one: congregations and their leaders do everything they know to do and with greater skill, but with diminishing impact. The fact is, the world has changed, and many of our understandings of congregational leadership are built on assumptions related to a world that no longer exists. The days of “if we build it they will come” are fast vanishing. Increasingly, congregations are awakening to the fact that we are in a missionary engagement with our own culture.

This degree is for leaders of all kind: staff ministers of all stripes, elders and other lay leaders, persons anticipating a career shift involving ministry. Help us fill our first cohort. For more information, you can contact Dr. Mark Love, Director of the Resource Center for Missional Leadership at Rochester College, at mlove@rc.edu. Join us on this exciting adventure.

Fast forward to a hut in Africa. After accepting a position as president of World Vision kicking-and-screaming, he wound up in this hut. There he met a thirteen-year-old boy who was raising his younger siblings because both their parents had died of AIDS. Turns out that was quite common in that village. AIDS had wiped out much of a generation.

Then Stearns realized: very few Christians even cared about this tragedy. A few rock stars and Hollywood actors seemed to care — enough to even go over and hold some of these children and to raise money on their behalf — but the church, especially the church in America, didn’t seem too upset.

Life was too good. These problems were too far away.

This is what Stearns calls The Hole in Our Gospel.

There is a “hole” in our gospel because too often we have dumbed down the good news to mean little more than personal salvation and cool worship services. We have failed to grasp the impulses of the message that launch us into a desperate world. To follow Jesus is to offer ourselves for God’s purposes in this world.

Here are a few select quotes from this book I highly recommend.

“On Sunday morning, safe in our church pews and surrounded by friends, it can be all too easy to leave the world’s violence, suffering, and turmoil outside — out of sight, out of mind.”

“Those words from the Lord’s Prayer, ‘your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven’ were and are a clarion call to Jesus’ followers not just to proclaim the good news but to be the good news, here and now (Matt. 6:10). This gospel — the whole gospel — means much more than the personal salvation of individuals. it means a societal revolution.”

Here’s the beginning — just to whet your appetite so you want to finish the story:

A year ago my future mother-in-law Joanne told me about Oprah interviewing Pam Cope. She said it was amazing. That night curiosity got the best of me and I had to get online and check it out. I consider Africa my homeland, having spent most my childhood there, and she’d said Pam had read about a little African slave boy in a major Newspaper here in the US, and had gone and found him and others and rescued them from slavery. It gave me goose bumps.

It wasn’t until about four months later—early spring—when I was planning my wedding that the plight of children in Ghana came back to me. I have always trusted God to guide my mind and heart. Usually when I hear something significant—like Pam’s story and work—I commit it to God, trusting that if I am meant to participate, He will tell me when and where. Well it was the middle of spring and God was just about to poke my memory.

This morning we hit the pavement running and I wasn’t sure if my old forty-five and a half year-old body was up for the day. I was sitting there thinking about how I really needed to take better care of myself and put ointment on my scaly elbows. With that thought still on my mind I looked up to see the Phnom Penh street-cleaning women hard at work—picking up the garbage with their bare hands. The Cambodian people work so hard here. There is an unlawful energy about Cambodia that I don’t remember absorbing before this trip. Everyone seems to be recklessly driving and the sex industry is so in our face.

We went to meet with Don at Agape. He runs a shelter for girls rescued from prostitution. He is really cool and was so helpful to Aimee with facts and numbers. He has been working here for two years and has several Vietnamese girls in his shelter. He is working in a Vietnamese area and said that ten-year-old little girls “expect” to be sold when they turn ten. Chinese and South Korean men are paying more for the lighter skinned girls–so the Vietnamese girls are in demand.

He told us the story of a little three-year-old who had to be examined by a pediatrician-friend who was staying with him…you get the point–there was nothing pretty about our conversation with Don this morning. It was confirmation that TAL needs to become more involved with working in Cambodia. I am going to talk to Marie tomorrow and run some ideas by her. I don’t know what all this means but I know God is laying foundation on this trip.

We went to one of the brothels that had been shut down about two years ago. It is a vacant building that looks like a storefront from the outside. But behind closed doors there were chambers that were six by six feet. There were about 14 little rooms down a long hallway. Each room had a hand-painted number on the outside of the door. Inside was a wooden slat bed and nothing else. The rooms were personally decorated with magazine pages glued to the wall, hand-drawn crosses of markers and poems. The poem tells of how men come and tell these girls they are beautiful but they know they are called “dirty girls”. One poem told of how she was so unhappy (I will try to get all the words of this poem from Don). It is the saddest thing. In fact, Aimee and I said that the prison cells at least had ventilation and these girls were truly prisoners and sex slaves of the worst kind. I think I will have nightmares of those little rooms.

Upstairs there was a room painted bright pink where the girls had to go shoot up with heroin and then be filmed for sex videos. I sat at the doorway of this room and looked at the pink paint and thought, how sad, every little girl should have a pink bedroom but not a pink sex room where she is to perform the cruelest of sex acts with men.

It is really beyond and out of control. There are white single men just combing the streets here along the river. I think Aimee and I truly can only take one more day and staying here on the river. Thank goodness we are leaving because Aimee does not hide the disgust on her face very well. I laughed at her this morning when she shot a pissed-off look to a guy flirting with the waitress. It is just dripping with disgust here.

I came home this afternoon and had to lay down because I felt the trip was catching up with me. I thought about those little rooms before I napped and it was the first thing I thought of when I woke up.

Well, I have to go. My workhorse of a writer said we must pound some things out this afternoon. She is really coming up with some neat ideas and ways of introducing each chapter. I am getting very excited about the book!

In spite of being tired and missing my family so much, I have to realize that God is not finished with me yet. I have one more day to see what all He needs to show me. Hearing the stories about little Vietnamese and Cambodian girls being tortured and robbed of their innocence is what I need to remember. I must find and keep a fighting spirit so that I might be able to do something about it. I can see Tay’s little face in so many of these stories. I see MaiLia walking the streets selling books. I see young women like KeSey dripping in sexual body language. This is not acceptable that these men are coming here and these babies are being held prisoner.

Wait until you see the pictures of this place. It is the glue to all the stories I have heard through the years.

A wedding (my third this spring) — for “the girl next door.” Literally, the young woman who was six when I became her minister and seven when we became her next door neighbors.

Senior Sunday — 59 seniors were listed on the back of the bulletin. That’s a lot of people. And it’s the first time I can remember a “whoop” every time it was mentioned that someone was going to Texas A&M. (We’ll be checking hidden security cameras later to find out where that was coming from!)

Baccalaureate for Wylie High School. We actually had six Wylie graduates from our youth group this year, which was as many as I can remember. (We’re largely an AHS youth group.)

There were so many strengths in my ministry training — especially in languages and exegesis. But there were some holes, too. I don’t remember anyone ever saying, “By the way, here’s what you do when you’re asked to be involved in a funeral.” Or a wedding. To say nothing of church leadership, conflict resolution, etc. So many good changes have been made in the last three decades in ministry training.

The biggest change is helping ministers understand how to lead a church (or plant a church!) that knows how to live as missionaries in a broken world. It’s long past time for the church to quit throwing its weight around, whining because America has changed. It’s time for us to join God in what he’s doing around the world in bringing good news to the poor, to the broken-hearted, and to the outcasts.

Next week I will be returning to Africa and will be able to see the Magnificent Seven first hand! It’s hard to comprehend the changes that must be transpiring within the souls of these precious children who were once living in hopeless bondage but are now experiencing freedom.

During the past few weeks I’ve felt as if I am living in someone else’s body. This someone else leads a very exciting, busy life! I’ve ridden on the wings of various emotions leaving me to feel as if I need motion-sickness medication!

In case you ever wonder–when one is featured in a New York Times article and then is a guest on the Oprah Show–life changes. It was all a divine strategy carefully mapped out by a divine being! A human could not have arranged this miraculous chain of events where orphans from around the world are benefiting from a Missouri mom’s journey. Only God can do a work such as this!

I find myself giggling out loud as I recall the past six years of my groveling and begging for money to help poverty-stricken, disease-ridden widows and orphans in third-world countries. I had known I was to be a voice to cry out for children whose cries were not being heard…yet the frustration that comes when most people refuse to listen is too painful to describe. I didn’t understand why God would so clearly give me channels to help those who were going to die if someone didn’t step in if he wasn’t going to guide and direct me to people who were compassionate, willing and generous! Most richly-blessed Americans choose NOT to look away from their blessings long enough to focus on the ugliness of reality.

I see that my choosing to remain persistent in spite of endless irritations and constant disappointment has led me to where I stand today. It’s not me–I am operating in “simple-obedience.” I have committed to remain faithful and open to be used as an instrument — the feet, hands and voice. God must have been waiting for some reason and now must be the time. A gentle, refreshing shower of blessings from people whom I didn’t even know existed has been washing over me over the past few weeks. I have discovered kindred souls who are filled with compassion and kindness and who are willing to do their fair-share to save the world (one child at a time!).

I will be traveling to Africa with Amee Molloy. Amy is a writer who has been spending much of her life “inside my head” here lately. I carefully guide her along to visit both heartaches and rejoicings as she paints portions of my life into book form. We will visit the lake where Mark and the others were rescued from the darkness of slavery. I expect to feel excruciating pain for those who have not yet been liberated. Yet, I will take hold of the hope that their day of liberation will come. Experiencing the “Mark-Miracle” has confirmed what I had believed all along: for each suffering child there is a person out there who (if that person would only step out in faith) can be delivered out of bondage!

I am sure you will be reading details of my Ghana-journey while we are there as I have someone who will keep this blog updated for me.

Until then…

Quite often the absence of immediate success
is the mark of a genuine call.
~Bruce Larson~

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Thanks to the diligent work of Keith Brenton, MP3 downloads of Zoe music are now available on our website.

“Save the Cheerleader, save the world.”

A month ago I wouldn’t have known. But two weeks on your back while your post-surgery knee is resting and rehabbing offers lots of time for catching up on new television shows. It was fun having plenty of time to read — but I can’t read all day long.

So I decided to check out “Heroes” to find out what the buzz is about. And that’s where you find out the key to stopping a massive, destructive explosion: save the cheerleader, save the world.

The premise is that there are people scattered all over who appear to be average, normal folks: a cheerleader in Odessa, a painter in NYC, a cop from LA, a programmer from Tokyo, etc. But they are much, much more than normal. And somehow their lives are coming together to save the world.

I liked the connection to the Jesus story. Scattered all over the world are heroes — seemingly ordinary people who are joining God in putting the world right. They appear to be just hair dressers, teachers, coaches, stay-at-home parents, pharmaceutical reps, doctors, truck drivers, etc. But they are much more. They are people whom God has blessed so that they can be a blessing to others.

Save the hair dresser; save the world. (Oprah yesterday)
Save the administrative assistant; save the world.
Save the mother of three small kids; save the world.
Save the retired great grandpa; save the world.
Save the high school student; save the world.
Save the middle school coach; save the world.
Save the computer technician; save the world.
Save the insurance salesman; save the world.
Save the nurse; save the world.
Save the cheerleader; save the world.
Save the unemployed person; save the world.
Save the . . . .

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Larry James recently had these stats about immigration in Texas on his blog:

Consider these facts about immigration:

Of 31 million total immigrants, 12 million are undocumented with 1.4 to 1.6 million in Texas (5% of the state’s population)

Parkland Health and Hospital System, the public hospital in Dallas County, wrote off $7.6 million in unpaid medical bills from patients residing in adjoining Collin County which has no public hospital

(D Magazine, “Mexican Invasion,” by Rod Davis, February 2007, pages 42ff)

What will the church’s response be? Try to turn our world into a gated community where others are accused and rejected? Or seek to welcome and love?

Today, there is a follow-up story about it in the Times. Also, they (and my niece) head to Chicago to be on Oprah, a show that is supposed to be aired in March and that they hope will bring attention to the plight of other child slaves in Ghana.

Want to read more? You can find it here. This excellent piece by Christopher Wright would be an excellent discussion starter for any Bible class, small group, or leaders’ retreat. (Thanks, Jim, for telling me about it!)

Here’s another paragraph to whet your appetite:

“So another piece of unlearning we must do is breaking the habit of using the term mission field to refer to everywhere else in the world except our home country in the West. The language of home and mission field is still used by many churches and agencies, but it fundamentally misrepresents reality. Not only does it perpetuate a patronizing view of the rest of the world as always being on the receiving end of our missionary largesse, but it also fails to recognize the maturity of churches in many other lands.”

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And PLEASE, when you get a chance, read this book review of John Stackhouse’s new Finally Feminist: A Pragmatic Christian Understanding of Gender — a review written by Susan Wise Bauer.

Here, again, is just a taste:

Stackhouse finds, in the church’s changing attitude toward slavery, a proper model for the church’s changing attitude toward women. He points out that while women and homosexuals are never linked in the restrictive passages of the New Testament, women and slaves are. Women and slaves in the early church, freed in Christ, were nevertheless encouraged to observe cultural norms to keep the gospel from disrepute.

Stackhouse argues that the abolition of slavery provides us with a model for the Holy Spirit’s slow, ongoing work in doing away with a sinful, oppressive cultural norm—a change that doesn’t at all undercut the authority of Scripture. Many evangelicals point to thousands of years of patriarchy as proof that patriarchy is an essential part of God’s creation. Yet slavery, which we have now rejected, was as universal as patriarchy, and the Christian church has rightfully rejected it.

Well said!

But I also had time to listen to a message that was recommended to me by a blog reader who had heard me preach on some of the themes in the sermon.

Find 50 minutes and listen to this incredible message by Rob Bell. Go to this site, and find message #411 (December 10, 2006).

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I haven’t yet gotten to listen to Rick Atchley’s three lessons on “The Both/And Church” (explaining their decision to add an instrumental service), but they are found here.

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Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn made it easily into the Baseball Hall of Fame. But here’s my question: what 13 people voted AGAINST Gwynn? The man played two decades with the same team, and retired with a lifetime .338 batting average. He’s among the very best the game has ever seen.

So what happens? The 1.6 million subscribers read the story, feel bad about it, and go on — right?

Normally, maybe. But, thankfully for the children, this article came out when my brother and my sister-in-law were in NYC. As I’ve mentioned before on the blog, since their son’s death in 1999 they have been on a mission to provide care for orphans around the world. In the beginning, it was mostly in SE Asia. But that concern has expanded.

Since the article came out, it has expanded to children in Ghana.

My sister-in-law has been praying for those children since then. But it was prayer backed up by action (the best kind). She asked me for contacts in Ghana. So I put her in touch with Dan McVey, a longtime Ghana missionary and now a prof at ACU, and with Tommy Drinnen, who is one of the leaders at Village of Hope. Through those contacts, the seven children were rescued and brought to Village of Hope.

Recently, Pam and my niece, Crista (an ACU freshman), went to Ghana to care for the children. They have horrifying stories — such as one young boy who was tied to a tree for a night because he hadn’t met his quota — yet they also have amazing stories of hope and deliverance.

Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done–
on earth as it is in heaven.

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I’ll be spending this morning with my friend Butch.

Butch is an orthopedic surgeon.

Back in November when my knee (torn meniscus and all) kept throwing out, it was easier to commit to arthroscopic surgery. But I’ve almost backed out lately since my knee, perhaps knowing what’s ahead, has been behaving properly. I have to keep reminding myself that just because my knee is acting GOOD, doesn’t mean it isn’t BAD.