I love to take every opportunity to let you guys know how God is using a place like UC Fellowship in ways that you may not be aware of. This week a two year old church in the Charlotte area emailed to me to say:
During the retreat of our church’s elders last Saturday we all agreed that we need to sit down with you and have you walk us through your vision for UCF and how this is being implemented week by week. We sense that you are going the same direction that we are headed but you guys have a track record and we are just getting started.
I am always honored to share what I know, but they really don’t want information as much as they want transformation. You see, some leaders in this church have spent some extended time with many of you at UC Fellowship. They are truly awed by the work that God is doing in your lives and how you are seeking to love loud, risk often and hope always. They have seen God’s work in you and want to see that same transformation happen over and over again in the life of their church. They aren’t looking for new “methods,” cute “slogans,” or the next great church strategy. They want to understand how God is transforming people at UCF. You need to know this because you need to know what an amazing work God IS doing and the unique way He is using UCF for His Kingdom.
On Tuesday, I responded to another request from a mission strategy and planning group that I have talked with in the past. They want to do a profile on our church to be able to share with other churches and mission agencies. They are really excited about our approach to making a global impact in Ethiopia. In many ways, mission work is at a critical time due to a couple of factors.
1) Nearly all mainline denominational churches are declining and their mission involvement is declining as well.
2) Most new churches (younger than 10 years old) are not focused on making a global impact at all. Nearly all of their resources are focused locally or are consumed by the church itself.
This leaves a huge hole that is getting wider and wider every day. I believe God has called us as a church to lead the way missionally and blaze a trail for many other new churches to follow. God has led us to this point and you have made it happen through your prayers, your passion, your sacrifice, your giving, your willingness to go and your resolve to never forget about the world around you.
So once again, I want to say thanks for being you, for being the church and for being a model that God can use to help lead others.
Love loud… risk often… hope always,
David
Showing posts with label UC Fellowship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UC Fellowship. Show all posts
10.29.2009
10.22.2009
BEING the church... UCFellowship.
A note to the movement known as UC Fellowship... a missional community that some call "church."
Thanks for BEING UCFellowship. Notice I didn't say "being a part of" UCFellowship but truly BEING UCFellowship. You are the church. What you do defines who we are and so when you serve, we are a serving church; when you give we are a generous church. When you love we are a loving church. I want to thank you for being several things:
1) Servants - I get complements all the time about how this church serves. You serve all the time...Sundays, Saturdays, early morning, late night, all week long, public, private, local, global, poor, rich... it is amazing to see. So thanks for BEING servants. Several church around recently did a "campaign" to serve the city around them for a day. They asked me if I wanted our church to be a part of it. I politely (or maybe not so politely) told them that I didn't want anyone in our church finding out that at other churches you only have to serve when there is a campaign to do it at one point in the year. I was afraid for you to find out that some people define serving by something you do during a special emphasis, rather than something that God calls us to BE. Simply put, most of the things they were DOING once a year is what we are BEING day in, day out! You make me and other marvel at who we ARE.
2) Authentic - I have NEVER been a part of a more authentic, genuine, real gathering of people. I know that me being authentic helps you to be authentic, but you being authentic helps me to be authentic as well. This past Sunday was amazing. It is great to know that I can come and share my life with a large community that cares about what our family is facing right now in our adoption process. I love sharing the struggles, knowing that I will find compassion, love and care. If you missed the service, please listen to the message from our website. A lot of spiritual leaders just don't feel like they can be authentic AND lead. Unfortunately, their model of leadership is built around the appearance of strength and success with little room for struggle and weakness. Thanks for BEING authentic and allowing me to authentically lead out of my struggles and weakness.
3) Relentless Pursuit of the Mission - Our mission is to "challenge people to trust and imitate Jesus in missional communities for the good of the world." I love the ideas that I get from you daily about how this could play out in your work, home, schools etc. I love how we have created a place that DARES TO DREAM about the way things could be and the way things should be. I love that many of you think about going into the darkest places and bringing the light and hope of God there. I love that we are a place that forms unique connections with the community around us in ways that show unconditional love. I am grateful that many of you are beginning to dream about continuing to expand the mission. It is mission critical for us to never be stagnant, to never slow down and to never give up. Hope will always produce action rooted in faith and prayer.
So thanks for BEING the church!
Definitely need to read this article in preparation for this Sunday's Neighborhood Gathering. Kind of neat that God has us already doing something about this.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091022/ap_on_bi_ge/af_ethiopia_drought
Love loud... risk often... hope always,
David
Thanks for BEING UCFellowship. Notice I didn't say "being a part of" UCFellowship but truly BEING UCFellowship. You are the church. What you do defines who we are and so when you serve, we are a serving church; when you give we are a generous church. When you love we are a loving church. I want to thank you for being several things:
1) Servants - I get complements all the time about how this church serves. You serve all the time...Sundays, Saturdays, early morning, late night, all week long, public, private, local, global, poor, rich... it is amazing to see. So thanks for BEING servants. Several church around recently did a "campaign" to serve the city around them for a day. They asked me if I wanted our church to be a part of it. I politely (or maybe not so politely) told them that I didn't want anyone in our church finding out that at other churches you only have to serve when there is a campaign to do it at one point in the year. I was afraid for you to find out that some people define serving by something you do during a special emphasis, rather than something that God calls us to BE. Simply put, most of the things they were DOING once a year is what we are BEING day in, day out! You make me and other marvel at who we ARE.
2) Authentic - I have NEVER been a part of a more authentic, genuine, real gathering of people. I know that me being authentic helps you to be authentic, but you being authentic helps me to be authentic as well. This past Sunday was amazing. It is great to know that I can come and share my life with a large community that cares about what our family is facing right now in our adoption process. I love sharing the struggles, knowing that I will find compassion, love and care. If you missed the service, please listen to the message from our website. A lot of spiritual leaders just don't feel like they can be authentic AND lead. Unfortunately, their model of leadership is built around the appearance of strength and success with little room for struggle and weakness. Thanks for BEING authentic and allowing me to authentically lead out of my struggles and weakness.
3) Relentless Pursuit of the Mission - Our mission is to "challenge people to trust and imitate Jesus in missional communities for the good of the world." I love the ideas that I get from you daily about how this could play out in your work, home, schools etc. I love how we have created a place that DARES TO DREAM about the way things could be and the way things should be. I love that many of you think about going into the darkest places and bringing the light and hope of God there. I love that we are a place that forms unique connections with the community around us in ways that show unconditional love. I am grateful that many of you are beginning to dream about continuing to expand the mission. It is mission critical for us to never be stagnant, to never slow down and to never give up. Hope will always produce action rooted in faith and prayer.
So thanks for BEING the church!
Definitely need to read this article in preparation for this Sunday's Neighborhood Gathering. Kind of neat that God has us already doing something about this.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091022/ap_on_bi_ge/af_ethiopia_drought
Love loud... risk often... hope always,
David
9.12.2009
A tribute to my wife.
The series that we ended last week, Jon and Kate PLUS, is one that has obviously had a powerful impact on people in and around UCF. This whole topic of marriage and parenting is so close to my heart because I know it is so close to God's heart. It was God that create this whole idea of marriage, 1000's of years ago, so it kind of stands to reason that everyone ought to at least consider his ideas about marriage, particularly if your marriage doesn't seem to be working out the way you planned.
I love talking about the challenges of marriage and being authentic with the struggle we all face. Each time I do I am reminded of the gift that God has given me in my wife, Mendy. For those of you that don't know, Mendy and I met when her family began attending the church where my family attended in Knoxville, TN. We were good friends for a few years and Mendy tells the story that she said to her mom when she was 13, "I am going to marry David Henderson." Her mom told her she didn't even really know what marriage was, but that did not deter Mendy. We were married five years later on May 23, 1992.
If there is one characteristic that shines out in my wife, it is a "whatever it takes, servant-like devotion." She has always loved me and I have always been able to count on it. There are two challenges (actually more but two that stand out) to being married to me. One is ME. I am not easy to be married to, in the high times, life could not be better and in the low times everything seems dim. It takes a special person just to love me through the highs, the lows and everything in between. The second challenge is the path (sometimes I call it a burden... like the prophets referred to it) that God has chosen for my life. Midway through my freshman year at the University of Tennessee, God led me to give up my current course of study to follow His leadership and become a pastor. I don't care who you are, it isn't easy being married to a pastor. There is a struggle between work/home that is always blurry. There is spiritual opposition to everything you are trying to do and be as a married couple and as a family. There are endless expectations from others around you, who rarely understand that anyone has any expectations of you at all. For all of these reasons and more, being married to me isn't easy. Yet, God knew that it would take someone with radical "whatever it takes" devotion to be my wife and He convinced her early on to want to marry me.
Mendy has displayed her devotion to me in countless ways, but rather than just calling them "countless" and leaving it at that, I wanted to let everyone else know a few of the ways this woman has loved me with a reckless devotion.
-We decided to get married after her freshman year of college. She was studying early childhood education at the University of Tennessee. I had just graduated from college and was planning on starting and completing graduate school as soon as possible. We knew graduate school was going to cost a lot of money and decided it would be best to work hard and save for a year before beginning. This meant us both getting full time jobs (in addition to the "part time" youth ministry position I had) to save. It also meant that she would quit pursuing her degree. This was done with gladness and devotion.
-When we were married in '92, I had already been a youth pastor for 3 years. My youth were used to David (the single guy) being able to hang out at all hours of the day (AND night). Whatever these 7th-12th grade students needed to take the next step in their spiritual journey, I did my best to provide. When we got married, we moved closer to the church to be even more engaged in the community. Mendy jumped right in with the entire church community. She loved deeply and poured herself into many of the girls in our group as well as many others in that church. She tolerated the late night "drop in's" and the come and go at all hours from many of the youth.
-Fourteen months after we were married, we moved to Dallas, TX so I could attend Dallas Theological Seminary. Moving 15 hours away for some might not seem that big of a deal, but nearly all of Mendy's family and extended family lived in and around Knoxville. Getting together for birthdays, holidays etc was at least a monthly gathering, gatherings that we would no longer be a part of. We knew God wanted us in Dallas, Mendy always maintained that same "whatever it takes" devotion. We have never moved back to Knoxville and I know at times the distance has been difficult, but we know God’s promises for those who have left father and mother to follow him.
-As I found a part-time youth pastor position in Dallas, Mendy worked full time to put me through grad school. We graduated with no school debt... whatever it takes.
-For the last nine months of her job in Dallas, Mendy was pregnant with Megan. At one point early in the pregnancy, the doctor's became very concerned and warned us that we might lose this baby. I saw fear in Mendy's eyes and felt it in my voice as we prayed, and at the same time I saw an amazing determination and resolve. The doctor's said Mendy needed a specific medicine that seemed to be very difficult for them to find and needed it as soon as possible. Through many calls, Mendy found the medicine before our doctors office did. We believed then and still do that this doctor’s diagnosis and the timeliness of the medication saved Megan’s life… devotion… whatever it takes.
-We moved to eastern NC for my first job as a Senior Pastor. I was 26 and Mendy was 22. She adapted to a small town of 8000 people surrounded by farmland. It was a great place to start a family, but a very lonely place for Mendy. I watched her struggle, but always gracefully and willingly because we knew God had called us there.
-Two years into this position, I knew God was growing us and changing us. He was doing a work in both of our hearts that would totally change the direction of our lives and our ministry. Up until this point we were pretty comfortable people in a comfortable church with a comfortable future ahead of us. God had different plans. The next 2 ½ years God shaped in both our hearts a deep love for people far away from God and far away from the church. He placed in us a deep desire to pursue them with our lives. This is NOT a comfortable transformation, particularly when you act on it. And act on it we did. I remember being with Mendy at the 1st Evangelism conference that Willow Creek Community Church ever held. I stood in the parking lot of a grocery store in South Barrington, ILL after two days of that conference and Mendy and I said to each other, “I will not waste my life anymore focusing on comfortable religious people. I will take the message of Christ into the dark places in our world.” The reality of our lives now can be traced to that day. It was maybe a bigger stretch for Mendy than for me… and of course all I saw was devotion… to me… but more importantly to our Savior Jesus Christ… what it takes!
-A few years later this decision led us to begin a new church. We moved to Charlotte in June of 2000. When we committed to do this Mendy was pregnant with our third child and we had a secure income of $1,000 per month. The rest of our salary would be up to us to come up with. This situation alone would have been enough for many women to say, “no way… enough… I have to have more security than that.” Mendy didn’t just go along with it, she genuinely welcomed the insecurity as we stayed devoted to our God and His call on our life. Mendy gave birth to Jacob on August 14th, 45 days after we moved to Charlotte. Oh and we had the first gathering of UCF in our living room on July 20 with 14 people…. Whatever it takes!
-The first year of church planting is a total whirlwind. In those days there were not a ton of resources on church planting and truth be known, we really didn’t know what we were doing. But God called and He blessed. Mendy worked beside me every step of the way. She did not attend a service for the first year of our church because she gave herself to making sure the children’s areas were being led well… by her. She also quickly found herself cooking once a week for about 50-70 college students at our house… it was a zoo at our house. In August of 2001, Mendy called me mid morning to come home because she was not feeling well. Minutes later I was taking her to the Emergency Room. For 6 anxious days, Mendy was in excruciating pain that only subsided with pain medication that knocked her out. The diagnosis was double pneumonia and meningitis. All of this was simply brought on by fatigue. After 9 days in the hospital, Mendy came home. She missed Jacob’s 1st birthday because of her hospital stay. When I say we have given our lives to follow God’s call to begin this church, I mean it. We definitely tried to make some adjustments in our schedule, but with three preschoolers and a new church there wasn’t much room… devotion… whatever it takes.
-Through the years Mendy has watched me go through some amazing highs and some deep valleys. She has seen first hand my joys and pains and she has been with me on every emotional roller coaster ride I have taken her on. She has tried to buffer our family from the difficult days and protect our home from the struggles, but it is kind of hard when you open your home to everyone and truly love and serve them while they are there… a servant-minded devotion… whatever it takes.
-After giving birth to Lindsay in October of 2003, Mendy and I faced the most difficult time of our life to this point. She was diagnosed with heart failure brought on by the pregnancy and delivery. Three months after this diagnosis, we believed we were facing the need for a heart transplant (I have written a blog on this time title “Heart Failure”). Although she had NO energy and the medication completely fatigued her even more, Mendy did whatever was needed for our marriage and for our family. I watched her drag herself out of bed to serve our family and our community… and try to get rest in the momentary down times. I watched her wrestle with God and I wrestled with her. This lasted for three years, before the Lord healed her heart… devotion… whatever it takes.
-With each new stage that our children enter into, Mendy is there, fully present. She is the force that makes me a better dad by reminding me to do the little things and the big things that make our family what it is. Our kids don’t fully know, and maybe they never will, but Mendy’s devotion to me and to them is immeasurable. She knows what is needed and just figures out a way to make it happen… a servant minded devotion… whatever it takes.
-I have an enduring HOPE for things that are not real yet. I dream often about what could be and what should be. I look at the person furthest away from God and simply dream about what their life could be like if they went ALL OUT in their devotion to God. This leads me to dream and hope out loud a lot. Usually it is Mendy who is listening to the idealistic ramblings and outrageous dreams about what the Kingdom could be here and around the world. She has poured herself into others with me. It’s the kind of sacrifice that you only make when you have such a tremendous hope for what a person could be and should be. But hoping deeply also creates the potential to hurt deeply when it doesn’t work out or when evil wins a battle. I have watched Mendy both hope and hurt and she has been my comfort in my own hoping and hurting times… whatever it takes.
-I watched God call my wife to join Him in His work in Ethiopia. Mendy who is not nearly as ambitious as I am and hates to fly obediently said “yes” when God led her to go. You may look at her now and think she was ALL IN from the beginning, but in the beginning I know she went out of pure obedience to God and His voice. Four trips later and full of amazing stories of God’s work, Mendy’s obedience to go to Ethiopia has formed and shaped us in huge ways… devotion…. Whatever it takes!
-I really could go on and on, but I will stop with this one. I am currently watching Mendy’s devotion directed toward Tizita and Geremew (our two kids in Ethiopia that we are waiting to adopt). She has never met them, and they do not know it, but there is already a deep devotion to them in her heart. They are already treated like they are our kids. I can’t wait for the day that her devotion to this adoption leads to it’s completion. I want these kids to see the eyes of their mom and feel her servant minded devotion and on that day they will know that they have a mom who will always do WHATEVER IT TAKES!
You simply amaze me.
I love talking about the challenges of marriage and being authentic with the struggle we all face. Each time I do I am reminded of the gift that God has given me in my wife, Mendy. For those of you that don't know, Mendy and I met when her family began attending the church where my family attended in Knoxville, TN. We were good friends for a few years and Mendy tells the story that she said to her mom when she was 13, "I am going to marry David Henderson." Her mom told her she didn't even really know what marriage was, but that did not deter Mendy. We were married five years later on May 23, 1992.
If there is one characteristic that shines out in my wife, it is a "whatever it takes, servant-like devotion." She has always loved me and I have always been able to count on it. There are two challenges (actually more but two that stand out) to being married to me. One is ME. I am not easy to be married to, in the high times, life could not be better and in the low times everything seems dim. It takes a special person just to love me through the highs, the lows and everything in between. The second challenge is the path (sometimes I call it a burden... like the prophets referred to it) that God has chosen for my life. Midway through my freshman year at the University of Tennessee, God led me to give up my current course of study to follow His leadership and become a pastor. I don't care who you are, it isn't easy being married to a pastor. There is a struggle between work/home that is always blurry. There is spiritual opposition to everything you are trying to do and be as a married couple and as a family. There are endless expectations from others around you, who rarely understand that anyone has any expectations of you at all. For all of these reasons and more, being married to me isn't easy. Yet, God knew that it would take someone with radical "whatever it takes" devotion to be my wife and He convinced her early on to want to marry me.
Mendy has displayed her devotion to me in countless ways, but rather than just calling them "countless" and leaving it at that, I wanted to let everyone else know a few of the ways this woman has loved me with a reckless devotion.
-We decided to get married after her freshman year of college. She was studying early childhood education at the University of Tennessee. I had just graduated from college and was planning on starting and completing graduate school as soon as possible. We knew graduate school was going to cost a lot of money and decided it would be best to work hard and save for a year before beginning. This meant us both getting full time jobs (in addition to the "part time" youth ministry position I had) to save. It also meant that she would quit pursuing her degree. This was done with gladness and devotion.
-When we were married in '92, I had already been a youth pastor for 3 years. My youth were used to David (the single guy) being able to hang out at all hours of the day (AND night). Whatever these 7th-12th grade students needed to take the next step in their spiritual journey, I did my best to provide. When we got married, we moved closer to the church to be even more engaged in the community. Mendy jumped right in with the entire church community. She loved deeply and poured herself into many of the girls in our group as well as many others in that church. She tolerated the late night "drop in's" and the come and go at all hours from many of the youth.
-Fourteen months after we were married, we moved to Dallas, TX so I could attend Dallas Theological Seminary. Moving 15 hours away for some might not seem that big of a deal, but nearly all of Mendy's family and extended family lived in and around Knoxville. Getting together for birthdays, holidays etc was at least a monthly gathering, gatherings that we would no longer be a part of. We knew God wanted us in Dallas, Mendy always maintained that same "whatever it takes" devotion. We have never moved back to Knoxville and I know at times the distance has been difficult, but we know God’s promises for those who have left father and mother to follow him.
-As I found a part-time youth pastor position in Dallas, Mendy worked full time to put me through grad school. We graduated with no school debt... whatever it takes.
-For the last nine months of her job in Dallas, Mendy was pregnant with Megan. At one point early in the pregnancy, the doctor's became very concerned and warned us that we might lose this baby. I saw fear in Mendy's eyes and felt it in my voice as we prayed, and at the same time I saw an amazing determination and resolve. The doctor's said Mendy needed a specific medicine that seemed to be very difficult for them to find and needed it as soon as possible. Through many calls, Mendy found the medicine before our doctors office did. We believed then and still do that this doctor’s diagnosis and the timeliness of the medication saved Megan’s life… devotion… whatever it takes.
-We moved to eastern NC for my first job as a Senior Pastor. I was 26 and Mendy was 22. She adapted to a small town of 8000 people surrounded by farmland. It was a great place to start a family, but a very lonely place for Mendy. I watched her struggle, but always gracefully and willingly because we knew God had called us there.
-Two years into this position, I knew God was growing us and changing us. He was doing a work in both of our hearts that would totally change the direction of our lives and our ministry. Up until this point we were pretty comfortable people in a comfortable church with a comfortable future ahead of us. God had different plans. The next 2 ½ years God shaped in both our hearts a deep love for people far away from God and far away from the church. He placed in us a deep desire to pursue them with our lives. This is NOT a comfortable transformation, particularly when you act on it. And act on it we did. I remember being with Mendy at the 1st Evangelism conference that Willow Creek Community Church ever held. I stood in the parking lot of a grocery store in South Barrington, ILL after two days of that conference and Mendy and I said to each other, “I will not waste my life anymore focusing on comfortable religious people. I will take the message of Christ into the dark places in our world.” The reality of our lives now can be traced to that day. It was maybe a bigger stretch for Mendy than for me… and of course all I saw was devotion… to me… but more importantly to our Savior Jesus Christ… what it takes!
-A few years later this decision led us to begin a new church. We moved to Charlotte in June of 2000. When we committed to do this Mendy was pregnant with our third child and we had a secure income of $1,000 per month. The rest of our salary would be up to us to come up with. This situation alone would have been enough for many women to say, “no way… enough… I have to have more security than that.” Mendy didn’t just go along with it, she genuinely welcomed the insecurity as we stayed devoted to our God and His call on our life. Mendy gave birth to Jacob on August 14th, 45 days after we moved to Charlotte. Oh and we had the first gathering of UCF in our living room on July 20 with 14 people…. Whatever it takes!
-The first year of church planting is a total whirlwind. In those days there were not a ton of resources on church planting and truth be known, we really didn’t know what we were doing. But God called and He blessed. Mendy worked beside me every step of the way. She did not attend a service for the first year of our church because she gave herself to making sure the children’s areas were being led well… by her. She also quickly found herself cooking once a week for about 50-70 college students at our house… it was a zoo at our house. In August of 2001, Mendy called me mid morning to come home because she was not feeling well. Minutes later I was taking her to the Emergency Room. For 6 anxious days, Mendy was in excruciating pain that only subsided with pain medication that knocked her out. The diagnosis was double pneumonia and meningitis. All of this was simply brought on by fatigue. After 9 days in the hospital, Mendy came home. She missed Jacob’s 1st birthday because of her hospital stay. When I say we have given our lives to follow God’s call to begin this church, I mean it. We definitely tried to make some adjustments in our schedule, but with three preschoolers and a new church there wasn’t much room… devotion… whatever it takes.
-Through the years Mendy has watched me go through some amazing highs and some deep valleys. She has seen first hand my joys and pains and she has been with me on every emotional roller coaster ride I have taken her on. She has tried to buffer our family from the difficult days and protect our home from the struggles, but it is kind of hard when you open your home to everyone and truly love and serve them while they are there… a servant-minded devotion… whatever it takes.
-After giving birth to Lindsay in October of 2003, Mendy and I faced the most difficult time of our life to this point. She was diagnosed with heart failure brought on by the pregnancy and delivery. Three months after this diagnosis, we believed we were facing the need for a heart transplant (I have written a blog on this time title “Heart Failure”). Although she had NO energy and the medication completely fatigued her even more, Mendy did whatever was needed for our marriage and for our family. I watched her drag herself out of bed to serve our family and our community… and try to get rest in the momentary down times. I watched her wrestle with God and I wrestled with her. This lasted for three years, before the Lord healed her heart… devotion… whatever it takes.
-With each new stage that our children enter into, Mendy is there, fully present. She is the force that makes me a better dad by reminding me to do the little things and the big things that make our family what it is. Our kids don’t fully know, and maybe they never will, but Mendy’s devotion to me and to them is immeasurable. She knows what is needed and just figures out a way to make it happen… a servant minded devotion… whatever it takes.
-I have an enduring HOPE for things that are not real yet. I dream often about what could be and what should be. I look at the person furthest away from God and simply dream about what their life could be like if they went ALL OUT in their devotion to God. This leads me to dream and hope out loud a lot. Usually it is Mendy who is listening to the idealistic ramblings and outrageous dreams about what the Kingdom could be here and around the world. She has poured herself into others with me. It’s the kind of sacrifice that you only make when you have such a tremendous hope for what a person could be and should be. But hoping deeply also creates the potential to hurt deeply when it doesn’t work out or when evil wins a battle. I have watched Mendy both hope and hurt and she has been my comfort in my own hoping and hurting times… whatever it takes.
-I watched God call my wife to join Him in His work in Ethiopia. Mendy who is not nearly as ambitious as I am and hates to fly obediently said “yes” when God led her to go. You may look at her now and think she was ALL IN from the beginning, but in the beginning I know she went out of pure obedience to God and His voice. Four trips later and full of amazing stories of God’s work, Mendy’s obedience to go to Ethiopia has formed and shaped us in huge ways… devotion…. Whatever it takes!
-I really could go on and on, but I will stop with this one. I am currently watching Mendy’s devotion directed toward Tizita and Geremew (our two kids in Ethiopia that we are waiting to adopt). She has never met them, and they do not know it, but there is already a deep devotion to them in her heart. They are already treated like they are our kids. I can’t wait for the day that her devotion to this adoption leads to it’s completion. I want these kids to see the eyes of their mom and feel her servant minded devotion and on that day they will know that they have a mom who will always do WHATEVER IT TAKES!
You simply amaze me.
3.26.2009
Mind Dump
Several things are beating around in my head this morning.
One – We have an amazing collection of people that serve as the lead team of UCF. This morning we just had an incredible conversation about trust, accountability and mission. I love how God has molded this group into a subtly powerful force for the kingdom. Not in the normal sense that you might think of from other church leadership groups, but in a serving, giving, not-settling-for-the-status-quo kind of way that is very energizing and challenging to me. We meet every Thursday at 6 AM to continue a dialogue about what God is doing in us personally and collectively in this spiritual community called University City Fellowship. I am simply amazed at how the individual gifts of each person combine to form a very effective serving group. This was the hardest part of planting a church. Our first run at forming a lead team was a complete disaster. We had the wrong people with the wrong idea of what we were trying to create and form. I learned a ton from this failure and because of it I am that much more grateful for what God has formed over the last five years.
Two – I love the conversations that usually take place after our lead team even more. Mostly because these people are aware of and respond to the activity of God in their own lives and wonder out loud what it means for our community. I know God is birthing something very transformational. I have prayed for it and I have sensed it for a year or two, but now he is beginning to awaken others and call them to the same transformational pursuit. I cannot express the form that it will take, I only know that this morning’s conversations with Todd and Gray put me on a whole new level. After those conversations, I felt a lot less pressure to try to communicate what I think God wants us to do, because He is already preparing these guys for what is next. (And by the way, God has a way of communicating that is just a whole lot better than what I would come up with.) There is a burden to make sure our lives live up to their full redemptive potential that God had planned for us all. To be all in and go all out. To not let anything stand in the way of God’s full reign in us, so that He can lead us easily into the next opportunity. It is happening and it is humbling to feel like I am supposed to be the one leading this thing from a human perspective.
Three – I am reading and re-reading a book that resonates so deeply within my soul, that I can’t wait to get to the next page, but I keep finding myself re-reading pages because they so clearly express things that God has been building in my heart for years. I will try to write some of them down here so hopefully you can join the journey. The book is The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch. Some of this stuff describes our community to a T and other parts of it challenge us to become something different – never settling for the safety and security of what we have done in the last 8 years. Get ready for a wild ride.
One – We have an amazing collection of people that serve as the lead team of UCF. This morning we just had an incredible conversation about trust, accountability and mission. I love how God has molded this group into a subtly powerful force for the kingdom. Not in the normal sense that you might think of from other church leadership groups, but in a serving, giving, not-settling-for-the-status-quo kind of way that is very energizing and challenging to me. We meet every Thursday at 6 AM to continue a dialogue about what God is doing in us personally and collectively in this spiritual community called University City Fellowship. I am simply amazed at how the individual gifts of each person combine to form a very effective serving group. This was the hardest part of planting a church. Our first run at forming a lead team was a complete disaster. We had the wrong people with the wrong idea of what we were trying to create and form. I learned a ton from this failure and because of it I am that much more grateful for what God has formed over the last five years.
Two – I love the conversations that usually take place after our lead team even more. Mostly because these people are aware of and respond to the activity of God in their own lives and wonder out loud what it means for our community. I know God is birthing something very transformational. I have prayed for it and I have sensed it for a year or two, but now he is beginning to awaken others and call them to the same transformational pursuit. I cannot express the form that it will take, I only know that this morning’s conversations with Todd and Gray put me on a whole new level. After those conversations, I felt a lot less pressure to try to communicate what I think God wants us to do, because He is already preparing these guys for what is next. (And by the way, God has a way of communicating that is just a whole lot better than what I would come up with.) There is a burden to make sure our lives live up to their full redemptive potential that God had planned for us all. To be all in and go all out. To not let anything stand in the way of God’s full reign in us, so that He can lead us easily into the next opportunity. It is happening and it is humbling to feel like I am supposed to be the one leading this thing from a human perspective.
Three – I am reading and re-reading a book that resonates so deeply within my soul, that I can’t wait to get to the next page, but I keep finding myself re-reading pages because they so clearly express things that God has been building in my heart for years. I will try to write some of them down here so hopefully you can join the journey. The book is The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch. Some of this stuff describes our community to a T and other parts of it challenge us to become something different – never settling for the safety and security of what we have done in the last 8 years. Get ready for a wild ride.
7.10.2008
The Auction Results!
Okay guys, I am sorry for the slow update on the Nance Bay Buffalo Nickel Auction which ended on Monday. For those new to this topic you need to read the previous post. The numbers that I am going to report are only significant as they relate to the story of God’s work in the life UCF and the people who are moved by God to accomplish his work. I could write for a long time of the endless connections and stories that this idea has generated and the amazing things that God is doing through it. I will try to give you a glimpse.
First of all the numbers: The total auction raised right at $4,000 with the winning bid going to Amy Montgomery. She bid on this so that she could give this nickel to her son Zachary who is currently working with Teen Mania Ministries and is heading to Bible College soon. Zachary’s story of life change is truly amazing and I have been blessed to just be able to watch God work in someone’s life to this extent. When I emailed Zachary about the Auction he told me that he wept and that his heart is really full of compassion for those who are struggling with homelessness. I am excited that he will have a real life reminder of the faith that leads a homeless man to give all that he had to help someone share Jesus with people in Ethiopia.
The money will help to pay for some of the transition costs for Mike and Amy Rodgers who moved last month to their permanent location at Lake Langano, Ethiopia. We have a mission trip with 10 people heading there in 14 days so please pray for God’s activity to be realized and responded to in huge ways.
Now for another side story to the whole Nance Bay Buffalo Nickel. This story requires a text from the bible where Paul writes,
6 Remember this – a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. 7 You must each make up your own mind as to how much you should give. Don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves the person who gives cheerfully. 8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. 9 As the Scriptures say, "Godly people give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will never be forgotten." 10 For God is the one who gives seed to the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will give you many opportunities to do good, and he will produce a great harvest of generosity in you. 11 Yes, you will be enriched so that you can give even more generously. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will break out in thanksgiving to God. 12 So two good things will happen – the needs of the Christians in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanksgiving to God. 13 You will be glorifying God through your generous gifts. For your generosity to them will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. 14 And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the wonderful grace of God shown through you. 15 Thank God for his Son – a gift too wonderful for words! 2 Corinthians 9
God is definitely at work in our church producing a culture of generosity… it is becoming who we are and it comes so close to the heart of God that it is exciting to see. Some of you have read the above verses with a little skepticism because it tends to indicate that to the person who gives cheerfully, God will in turn “generously provide all you need.” In a sense it kind of indicates that if we give cheerfully we will receive from God generously. Now many misguided TV evangelists have selfishly and wickedly used these verses to pad their pockets, but that should not distract us from the truth of the bible. You might wonder where I am going with this. Well here is the deal... one of the bids for Nance’s Nickel was written for $500, enclosed also was a separate check for $1,000 to help out with anything that we feel Nance might need. The end result is this, a homeless man in obedient to God and give all he has to God’s Kingdom work, this is used to raise $4,000 for UCF’s missionaries and another $1,000 to help the same homeless man who gave the original nickel. Pretty good return… I think the bible calls that a “generous crop.” Now I wonder what would happen if we all began to act in faith and give to the things of God. Generosity is contagious and the joy that comes with it is a rush.
Note: The $1,000 that was given for Nance will be given to those at UCF who have a relationship with him and are able to give to him as they see the needs arise. I am excited to see what God does through the money and the relationships it will deepen.
Love loud… risk often.
David
First of all the numbers: The total auction raised right at $4,000 with the winning bid going to Amy Montgomery. She bid on this so that she could give this nickel to her son Zachary who is currently working with Teen Mania Ministries and is heading to Bible College soon. Zachary’s story of life change is truly amazing and I have been blessed to just be able to watch God work in someone’s life to this extent. When I emailed Zachary about the Auction he told me that he wept and that his heart is really full of compassion for those who are struggling with homelessness. I am excited that he will have a real life reminder of the faith that leads a homeless man to give all that he had to help someone share Jesus with people in Ethiopia.
The money will help to pay for some of the transition costs for Mike and Amy Rodgers who moved last month to their permanent location at Lake Langano, Ethiopia. We have a mission trip with 10 people heading there in 14 days so please pray for God’s activity to be realized and responded to in huge ways.
Now for another side story to the whole Nance Bay Buffalo Nickel. This story requires a text from the bible where Paul writes,
6 Remember this – a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. 7 You must each make up your own mind as to how much you should give. Don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves the person who gives cheerfully. 8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. 9 As the Scriptures say, "Godly people give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will never be forgotten." 10 For God is the one who gives seed to the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will give you many opportunities to do good, and he will produce a great harvest of generosity in you. 11 Yes, you will be enriched so that you can give even more generously. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will break out in thanksgiving to God. 12 So two good things will happen – the needs of the Christians in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanksgiving to God. 13 You will be glorifying God through your generous gifts. For your generosity to them will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. 14 And they will pray for you with deep affection because of the wonderful grace of God shown through you. 15 Thank God for his Son – a gift too wonderful for words! 2 Corinthians 9
God is definitely at work in our church producing a culture of generosity… it is becoming who we are and it comes so close to the heart of God that it is exciting to see. Some of you have read the above verses with a little skepticism because it tends to indicate that to the person who gives cheerfully, God will in turn “generously provide all you need.” In a sense it kind of indicates that if we give cheerfully we will receive from God generously. Now many misguided TV evangelists have selfishly and wickedly used these verses to pad their pockets, but that should not distract us from the truth of the bible. You might wonder where I am going with this. Well here is the deal... one of the bids for Nance’s Nickel was written for $500, enclosed also was a separate check for $1,000 to help out with anything that we feel Nance might need. The end result is this, a homeless man in obedient to God and give all he has to God’s Kingdom work, this is used to raise $4,000 for UCF’s missionaries and another $1,000 to help the same homeless man who gave the original nickel. Pretty good return… I think the bible calls that a “generous crop.” Now I wonder what would happen if we all began to act in faith and give to the things of God. Generosity is contagious and the joy that comes with it is a rush.
Note: The $1,000 that was given for Nance will be given to those at UCF who have a relationship with him and are able to give to him as they see the needs arise. I am excited to see what God does through the money and the relationships it will deepen.
Love loud… risk often.
David
6.20.2008
A homeless man... a buffalo nickel... and God's plan!
First I want to introduce you to someone who has been to UCF twice. His name is Nans Bay. In the picture, Nans (on right) is standing with Joe Pelham, a regular at UCF. Joe met Nans in uptown Charlotte on a Sunday afternoon several months ago. 
Nans is one of our friends who doesn’t have a home and lives on the street. Joe picked him up for church back in May for his first visit and this past Sunday he came again with Joe.
At the end of this Sunday’s neighborhood gathering, I had planned on challenging everyone to give to two areas of need. The first was to Mike and Amy Rodgers (UCF’s missionaries to Ethiopia). They have just finished 9 months of language training and moved last week to their long-term home at Lake Langano. They have about $10,000 worth of one-time needs that are related to their move (things like furniture, generators, solar power system, etc). The second area of need was the UCF update we are planning for the Fall that includes all of our environments with particular attention to K-12th grades.
I challenged people to give $210 to each project. Why $210? Well, it costs $210 to provide for all of Mike and Amy needs for a single day and I thought I would mention that as well. Besides, $210 just seemed right. I have challenged people of the last few weeks to give a portion of their economic stimulus check that everyone has been receiving lately. After all, I believe it is simply God’s way of getting the US Government to fund mission work in Ethiopia. All it takes is our cooperation.
I think I was bolder than I have ever been, because in the middle of my challenge I simply thought, “if anyone knows a church that is doing more to reach out to the world around us with less, I want to know!” But instead of just thinking it I said it out loud. (That happens a lot in my world!) But the more I thought about it, the more I believed it. We are doing a great job of maximizing the money that comes into this place. And if there is another place that is doing more than we are with the same amount or less, I want to know so that we can learn from them how to do better. Bottom line, sometimes it isn’t about getting more for less, it is about challenging people to give more to places that are getting God’s work done! And right now, our mission needs to expand financially!
The service ended and I went to the Respond Area to spend some time with anyone who wanted to talk about the message. The first person that came up to me was Nans Bay. I greeted him with a hug because it was great to see him again. He said he needed to talk to me and he had a serious tone. He reached down and grabbed my hand and began to put something in it. As he was doing this he said, “now I don’t have $210, if I had it I’d of already gave it to ya. All I got is this nickel! Now it isn’t just any nickel, it’s a 1934 Buffalo Nickel. Now, I’m sure it’s not worth $210 but it’s all I got and maybe it can help your friends over there in Africa!” With a stunned silence, I looked down at the buffalo nickel he put in my hand. I was speechless as my eyes started to water a bit as I looked at Nans. He said, “I’ve been carrying this with me for a while now, but this is definitely where it needs to go!”
The story that immediately raced through my head was of Jesus and his disciples watching the widow give her only two coins to the offering in Luke 21…
While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people putting their gifts into the collection box. 2 Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two pennies. 3 "I assure you," he said, "this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. 4 For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has."
In one of my favorite books of the bible, James writes these penetrating words…
My dear brothers and sisters, F5 how can you claim that you have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people more than others? 2 For instance, suppose someone comes into your meeting F6 dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in shabby clothes. 3 If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, "You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor" – well, 4 doesn't this discrimination show that you are guided by wrong motives? 5 Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn't God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren't they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him? 6 And yet, you insult the poor man!
I started to say to Nans, “thanks man, but you need this more than Mike and Amy.” But then the Spirit seemed to stop me. What I heard in my mind were two things,
“Don’t insult his faith by robbing him of the blessing of giving”
“I have a plan for that nickel.”
I thanked Nans and assured him that God has a plan for his nickel. He walked away and my mind immediately began churning on what to do with Nans nickel. Sunday afternoon I prayed and thought about it and here is what I sense the plan should be.
We are going to hold a Nans Bay Nickel Auction with all of the proceeds going to help Mike and Amy Rodgers work in Ethiopia. And here is how the auction will work, from now until July 6th we will be taking bids. All bids must be submitted in the form of a check made out to “UCF” with “Nans Nickel” in the memo line. The top bidder on July 6th will be awarded the nickel. The big difference in this auction is that all bids will be cashed! When you submit a bid by check, your check will be cashed and be added to the total. So let the bidding begin and check back here for updates!!!
You guys need to make this happen so that I can go back and tell Nans what God did with his buffalo nickel and his faith. Make it happen!
Nans is one of our friends who doesn’t have a home and lives on the street. Joe picked him up for church back in May for his first visit and this past Sunday he came again with Joe. At the end of this Sunday’s neighborhood gathering, I had planned on challenging everyone to give to two areas of need. The first was to Mike and Amy Rodgers (UCF’s missionaries to Ethiopia). They have just finished 9 months of language training and moved last week to their long-term home at Lake Langano. They have about $10,000 worth of one-time needs that are related to their move (things like furniture, generators, solar power system, etc). The second area of need was the UCF update we are planning for the Fall that includes all of our environments with particular attention to K-12th grades.
I challenged people to give $210 to each project. Why $210? Well, it costs $210 to provide for all of Mike and Amy needs for a single day and I thought I would mention that as well. Besides, $210 just seemed right. I have challenged people of the last few weeks to give a portion of their economic stimulus check that everyone has been receiving lately. After all, I believe it is simply God’s way of getting the US Government to fund mission work in Ethiopia. All it takes is our cooperation.
I think I was bolder than I have ever been, because in the middle of my challenge I simply thought, “if anyone knows a church that is doing more to reach out to the world around us with less, I want to know!” But instead of just thinking it I said it out loud. (That happens a lot in my world!) But the more I thought about it, the more I believed it. We are doing a great job of maximizing the money that comes into this place. And if there is another place that is doing more than we are with the same amount or less, I want to know so that we can learn from them how to do better. Bottom line, sometimes it isn’t about getting more for less, it is about challenging people to give more to places that are getting God’s work done! And right now, our mission needs to expand financially!
The service ended and I went to the Respond Area to spend some time with anyone who wanted to talk about the message. The first person that came up to me was Nans Bay. I greeted him with a hug because it was great to see him again. He said he needed to talk to me and he had a serious tone. He reached down and grabbed my hand and began to put something in it. As he was doing this he said, “now I don’t have $210, if I had it I’d of already gave it to ya. All I got is this nickel! Now it isn’t just any nickel, it’s a 1934 Buffalo Nickel. Now, I’m sure it’s not worth $210 but it’s all I got and maybe it can help your friends over there in Africa!” With a stunned silence, I looked down at the buffalo nickel he put in my hand. I was speechless as my eyes started to water a bit as I looked at Nans. He said, “I’ve been carrying this with me for a while now, but this is definitely where it needs to go!”
The story that immediately raced through my head was of Jesus and his disciples watching the widow give her only two coins to the offering in Luke 21…
While Jesus was in the Temple, he watched the rich people putting their gifts into the collection box. 2 Then a poor widow came by and dropped in two pennies. 3 "I assure you," he said, "this poor widow has given more than all the rest of them. 4 For they have given a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she has."
In one of my favorite books of the bible, James writes these penetrating words…
My dear brothers and sisters, F5 how can you claim that you have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people more than others? 2 For instance, suppose someone comes into your meeting F6 dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in shabby clothes. 3 If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, "You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor" – well, 4 doesn't this discrimination show that you are guided by wrong motives? 5 Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn't God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren't they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him? 6 And yet, you insult the poor man!
I started to say to Nans, “thanks man, but you need this more than Mike and Amy.” But then the Spirit seemed to stop me. What I heard in my mind were two things,
“Don’t insult his faith by robbing him of the blessing of giving”
“I have a plan for that nickel.”
I thanked Nans and assured him that God has a plan for his nickel. He walked away and my mind immediately began churning on what to do with Nans nickel. Sunday afternoon I prayed and thought about it and here is what I sense the plan should be.
We are going to hold a Nans Bay Nickel Auction with all of the proceeds going to help Mike and Amy Rodgers work in Ethiopia. And here is how the auction will work, from now until July 6th we will be taking bids. All bids must be submitted in the form of a check made out to “UCF” with “Nans Nickel” in the memo line. The top bidder on July 6th will be awarded the nickel. The big difference in this auction is that all bids will be cashed! When you submit a bid by check, your check will be cashed and be added to the total. So let the bidding begin and check back here for updates!!!
You guys need to make this happen so that I can go back and tell Nans what God did with his buffalo nickel and his faith. Make it happen!
5.21.2008
Sunday and a man called, "Sam"
I think this past Sunday was an incredible wrap up to our UCF Backstage Series. I am in awe at God's providence and plan. I was excited going into the service because I knew the parts of the service that were going to be incredibly powerful - worship, parent-child dedication, the talk and the baptism video. Having a baptism video (that was shot at the baptism celebration on May 4th) at the end of the service was incredible. It is the capstone of all that we do because it is the outward expression of people choosing to trust Jesus and begin imitating Him. The baptism video was the planned part and a man who called himself "Sam" was the unplanned part.
Now regarding Sam, I know this may astonish some of you, but I believe that Sam was a person trying to scam our church and prey on the generosity of UCF. I did not know this at the point in the service when he stood up unsolicited and shared his story. For those who were not there, he shared that he was homeless, but had recently accepted Jesus as his Savior when someone shared Christ with him at a Burger King restaurant. He shared how God miraculously provided some clothes for him and that he had called his mom who had been praying for him. He stated that he was trying to get to Oklahoma to see his mom. I was stunned and felt compelled to let him tell his story. All I knew to do was pray for him and work out the details of helping him after the service. I prayed earnestly for him and thanked God for everything that we had been a part of in welcoming and showing love to Sam that morning. As soon as I sat down, during the closing song, I heard from a few people that this story was the same story that someone who called himself "Sam" stood up and shared at three other churches in our community recently. After a few seconds of thought and prayer, I asked Todd Murphy (part of UCF's Lead Team) to talk with Sam and decide how to handle the situation. There was a news report tonight on this scam taking place in several churches around the Charlotte area. Many of you handed me money to use for Sam's need. After talking with Sam and inquiring a little deeper into his story, Todd took him out to eat, dropped him at McDonald's to meet “his ride” and gave him a modest amount of travel money. He knew that we were on to him, but we still loved him and helped him.
Here is a few of my thoughts...
... the first thing that came to my mind when I realized what was probably going on was a verse in Genesis 50:20. Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers is now facing the challenge of forgiving his brothers as he is now the one in power in Egypt and they are at his mercy. And this is what he says, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done." Joseph knew that God is so powerful that He can work his will out through the selfish ambition and devious schemes of people. I believe that is what God did on Sunday morning. While "Sam" may have thought he was there to get some fast cash and pull off a scheme, he didn't realize that he was a part of a service that God had planned. He didn't realize that is words drove home the point of how important it is to love and serve people, no matter what their agendas are. We loved him, accepted him, put out a sign for him, set up a cafe for him, provided coffee and bagels for him, engaged him in conversation and generally loved him - even after we knew what he was about. He drove home the point of Sunday's message better than I could have and he didn’t even know it. What he intended for harm, God intended for good to accomplish what is being done at UCF.
... The message that many of you experienced on Sunday was real even though the motives behind the message from Sam was fraudulent. God genuinely moved in your hearts and you felt compassion for a man you didn’t know and you wanted to help. Do not allow the sin and selfishness of people to harden you to the real need that is all around you. The world is coming to us (19th fastest growing county in the US) and we need to meet them with generosity and compassion so that we can point them to the one that makes all the difference in the world – Jesus.
… Jesus said that we are sent out like “sheep among wolves” so we are to be “shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves.” I think we were definitely this on Sunday. We were wise and shrewd. We didn’t fill Sam’s pockets with money and allow his scam to work, but we didn’t turn him away either. We genuinely loved him, prayed for him and gave modestly to him. Everything that was given to me to give to him wasn’t needed, so I am giving it to Patrick Shaunessy to purchase some bus passed for our friends in uptown Charlotte who are homeless and really need some rides. We have limited amounts of time, money and energy. We must be good stewards of all of these so that we can advance God’s agenda most effectively in the world. We have to evaluate and make a plan. We didn’t necessarily have a plan for this scenario going in, but we had leaders in place who knew what to do and initiated compassionate, wise, innocent action. That is the community of God at work.
… Think of the boldness that it takes to pull off a scheme like that. To interrupt a service and boldly tell your story even though it is false. That takes guts and it is risky! He comes into our church and stands up and speaks up. I wonder what would happen if we went into our world and loved people with that kind of boldness and risk. I wonder what would happen if we went out with pure motives and took major risks to communicate love.
… Sam knew that we were on to his scam and yet he still experienced love and generosity moving towards him. I hope that Sam would be genuinely stunned by how people served him, talked with him, sat with him, and loved him – before and after we found out what he was up to. I am proud to be a part of a generous, caring, God-orchestrated community – keep loving loud… Sam heard it!
Love Loud… Risk Often,
David
Now regarding Sam, I know this may astonish some of you, but I believe that Sam was a person trying to scam our church and prey on the generosity of UCF. I did not know this at the point in the service when he stood up unsolicited and shared his story. For those who were not there, he shared that he was homeless, but had recently accepted Jesus as his Savior when someone shared Christ with him at a Burger King restaurant. He shared how God miraculously provided some clothes for him and that he had called his mom who had been praying for him. He stated that he was trying to get to Oklahoma to see his mom. I was stunned and felt compelled to let him tell his story. All I knew to do was pray for him and work out the details of helping him after the service. I prayed earnestly for him and thanked God for everything that we had been a part of in welcoming and showing love to Sam that morning. As soon as I sat down, during the closing song, I heard from a few people that this story was the same story that someone who called himself "Sam" stood up and shared at three other churches in our community recently. After a few seconds of thought and prayer, I asked Todd Murphy (part of UCF's Lead Team) to talk with Sam and decide how to handle the situation. There was a news report tonight on this scam taking place in several churches around the Charlotte area. Many of you handed me money to use for Sam's need. After talking with Sam and inquiring a little deeper into his story, Todd took him out to eat, dropped him at McDonald's to meet “his ride” and gave him a modest amount of travel money. He knew that we were on to him, but we still loved him and helped him.
Here is a few of my thoughts...
... the first thing that came to my mind when I realized what was probably going on was a verse in Genesis 50:20. Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers is now facing the challenge of forgiving his brothers as he is now the one in power in Egypt and they are at his mercy. And this is what he says, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good, to accomplish what is now being done." Joseph knew that God is so powerful that He can work his will out through the selfish ambition and devious schemes of people. I believe that is what God did on Sunday morning. While "Sam" may have thought he was there to get some fast cash and pull off a scheme, he didn't realize that he was a part of a service that God had planned. He didn't realize that is words drove home the point of how important it is to love and serve people, no matter what their agendas are. We loved him, accepted him, put out a sign for him, set up a cafe for him, provided coffee and bagels for him, engaged him in conversation and generally loved him - even after we knew what he was about. He drove home the point of Sunday's message better than I could have and he didn’t even know it. What he intended for harm, God intended for good to accomplish what is being done at UCF.
... The message that many of you experienced on Sunday was real even though the motives behind the message from Sam was fraudulent. God genuinely moved in your hearts and you felt compassion for a man you didn’t know and you wanted to help. Do not allow the sin and selfishness of people to harden you to the real need that is all around you. The world is coming to us (19th fastest growing county in the US) and we need to meet them with generosity and compassion so that we can point them to the one that makes all the difference in the world – Jesus.
… Jesus said that we are sent out like “sheep among wolves” so we are to be “shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves.” I think we were definitely this on Sunday. We were wise and shrewd. We didn’t fill Sam’s pockets with money and allow his scam to work, but we didn’t turn him away either. We genuinely loved him, prayed for him and gave modestly to him. Everything that was given to me to give to him wasn’t needed, so I am giving it to Patrick Shaunessy to purchase some bus passed for our friends in uptown Charlotte who are homeless and really need some rides. We have limited amounts of time, money and energy. We must be good stewards of all of these so that we can advance God’s agenda most effectively in the world. We have to evaluate and make a plan. We didn’t necessarily have a plan for this scenario going in, but we had leaders in place who knew what to do and initiated compassionate, wise, innocent action. That is the community of God at work.
… Think of the boldness that it takes to pull off a scheme like that. To interrupt a service and boldly tell your story even though it is false. That takes guts and it is risky! He comes into our church and stands up and speaks up. I wonder what would happen if we went into our world and loved people with that kind of boldness and risk. I wonder what would happen if we went out with pure motives and took major risks to communicate love.
… Sam knew that we were on to his scam and yet he still experienced love and generosity moving towards him. I hope that Sam would be genuinely stunned by how people served him, talked with him, sat with him, and loved him – before and after we found out what he was up to. I am proud to be a part of a generous, caring, God-orchestrated community – keep loving loud… Sam heard it!
Love Loud… Risk Often,
David
5.10.2008
US Government pays for mission work in Ethiopia!
Last Friday night's Movies in the Park (see www.MoviesInTheParkHarrisburg.com) was incredible. We simply created a perfect night for families in Harrisburg (1500-2000 people) to enjoy some great time together. Family after family thanked me for putting on an incredible event. The most impressive part to everyone by far was simply the friendliness of the volunteers. I also spoke with a couple of families on Sunday morning who came to UCF for the first time because they were at the movie on Friday. People simply want to be a part of a place that loves like you guys love. You all are awesome and I love being a part of leading such a loving group of people. The next movie is May 30th so make you plans.
I know many of you are receiving your "tax rebates" soon. Last week I proposed a plan for all of us who call UCF "my church" to give a portion of those rebates to Mike and Amy Rodgers support. My proposal was for each family to give $210, the amount that the Rodgers family needs for one day in Ethiopia. If we do this it will be the US governments way of sharing the love of God with kids in Ethiopia, kind of a cool way to think about it... but you are the key link. This plan grew even more urgent with an email I received this week from Amy Rodgers. Here is the email...
We are so grateful to be able to serve the Lord here in Ethiopia with Sports Friends and SIM and appreciate the sacrifices that so many of our friends have made to make this ministry possible. This has been a truly amazing year. In the next few weeks we will graduate from Amharic language school, pack up our family, and move to Camp Langano. We will be there ready to run six weeks of camping sessions that will be held between July 7 and August 15. In order to ease the transition for us when we arrived in Addis Ababa, SIM provided a furnished home to us during language school. Now that we are going out to do the ministry God called us to we are responsible for raising funds for some one-time ministry expenses to help get us established at Camp Langano. We will need to purchase the following items:
-Electric refrigerator $ 800
-Butane Freezer $ 500
-Butane Stove $ 800
-Generator, inverter and batteries $4,200
-Ceramic Water Filters $ 900
-Furniture $3,000
TOTAL $10,200
Mike and Amy Rodgers
If just 50 families at UCF decided to give $210 of their tax rebate we could meet this entire need. In praying through this, God may lead some of you to pay for some of these item entirely. I look forward to seeing how God uses us to make sure His work continues 365 days a year in Ethiopia. Let's make it happen. Write a check and put "Rodgers Tax Rebate" in the memo line so we know what it is for. Mike and Amy also need some more long term financial partners who will support them annually by paying for one or more days a year. At this point I believe that we need to cover about 15 more days to meet our support goal.
I will see you Sunday and out at the Lowe's Motor Speedway Workshop next week!
Love Loud... Risk Often,
David
I know many of you are receiving your "tax rebates" soon. Last week I proposed a plan for all of us who call UCF "my church" to give a portion of those rebates to Mike and Amy Rodgers support. My proposal was for each family to give $210, the amount that the Rodgers family needs for one day in Ethiopia. If we do this it will be the US governments way of sharing the love of God with kids in Ethiopia, kind of a cool way to think about it... but you are the key link. This plan grew even more urgent with an email I received this week from Amy Rodgers. Here is the email...
We are so grateful to be able to serve the Lord here in Ethiopia with Sports Friends and SIM and appreciate the sacrifices that so many of our friends have made to make this ministry possible. This has been a truly amazing year. In the next few weeks we will graduate from Amharic language school, pack up our family, and move to Camp Langano. We will be there ready to run six weeks of camping sessions that will be held between July 7 and August 15. In order to ease the transition for us when we arrived in Addis Ababa, SIM provided a furnished home to us during language school. Now that we are going out to do the ministry God called us to we are responsible for raising funds for some one-time ministry expenses to help get us established at Camp Langano. We will need to purchase the following items:
-Electric refrigerator $ 800
-Butane Freezer $ 500
-Butane Stove $ 800
-Generator, inverter and batteries $4,200
-Ceramic Water Filters $ 900
-Furniture $3,000
TOTAL $10,200
Mike and Amy Rodgers
If just 50 families at UCF decided to give $210 of their tax rebate we could meet this entire need. In praying through this, God may lead some of you to pay for some of these item entirely. I look forward to seeing how God uses us to make sure His work continues 365 days a year in Ethiopia. Let's make it happen. Write a check and put "Rodgers Tax Rebate" in the memo line so we know what it is for. Mike and Amy also need some more long term financial partners who will support them annually by paying for one or more days a year. At this point I believe that we need to cover about 15 more days to meet our support goal.
I will see you Sunday and out at the Lowe's Motor Speedway Workshop next week!
Love Loud... Risk Often,
David
5.02.2008
This week at the UC!
This weekend is UCF all out!
-Friday - Movies in the Park @ Harrisburg Park @ 8
-Saturday - AIDS Walk @ Uptown Charlotte @ 9
-Sunday - Baptism Celebration right after the Neighborhood Gathering.
This Sunday is going to be incredible. I am anticipating an amazing day as we celebrate those who have trusted Christ over the last few months and are following him in baptism. I love the journeys that lead us to this point and I love being a part of the life-change that God brings when people trust him. I received this email this week from someone who will be baptized this Sunday and I wanted to share with you a glimpse of what God is doing in the lives of those around us at UCF.
The part about how those two guys were re-baptized by Paul is so personal to me because when I was first baptized I knew it was a public declaration of my faith in God, but that was its only significance to me- "Yes, I believe in God"- But, like I told you on the phone, Christ has become so personal to me over the past few years that I feel like I need to be baptized again. Its because though I always believed in God, Jesus was never my personal savior, I didn't relate Him to my life and he wasn't the center of my focus. Let me tell you, the reason why I wept and gave my heart and everything that I am to God on Decmber 24, 2004 was because two things kept running through my mind. One: "He went through that for me" (meaning crucifixion & even more painful; seperation from God) and two: "I don't deserve this" (meaning that kind of mercy). I don't remember who it was but someone told me once when I was growing up that even if I had been the only person on Earth, Jesus still would've come and given up His life for me, I didn't realize the magnitude of that statement until I was able to see what He went through.
But even more than the fact that I want to "publicly declare" my belief and faith in God, the bigger reason for why I want to be baptized is that I want to affirm to myself and to God "Hey, I'm with You, I believe in You and love You." I want to discard my old self and way of life and be re-born, this time with a Greater purpose. I am not the way I used to be and I know that that truth remains the same whether I get baptized or not, but I still have this desire to physically do something that says I AM NOT THE SAME.
You are not going to want to miss this baptism!
ALSO, I have had a huge thought over the last few weeks as I have anticipated receiving my tax rebate in the mail. I would really like for everyone to consider giving $210 of your tax rebate to support Mike and Amy Rodgers. For those of you who don't know, Mike and Amy are UCF's first missionaries in Ethiopia. They have been there for 9 months and UCF supplies about 25% of their daily support. $210 is what it takes to provide for the Rodgers family for one day. So whether you are already a regular supporter, or this is the first time you have heard about it, please consider making it happen. If everyone kicks in, we will be able to fully fund and go above and beyond. I know they will have several extra costs coming up as the transition from Addis Ababa down to Lake Langano. This would make a huge impact and be an incredible encouragement to them as they serve. The second thought I had was to give that amount to Starfish Ministries which is led by Dave and Robin Laney. You can give this to UCF and put the place in the memo line! Just think of it as the US Government's way of getting the gospel to Ethiopia... kind of cool!
Love Loud... Risk Often,
David
-Friday - Movies in the Park @ Harrisburg Park @ 8
-Saturday - AIDS Walk @ Uptown Charlotte @ 9
-Sunday - Baptism Celebration right after the Neighborhood Gathering.
This Sunday is going to be incredible. I am anticipating an amazing day as we celebrate those who have trusted Christ over the last few months and are following him in baptism. I love the journeys that lead us to this point and I love being a part of the life-change that God brings when people trust him. I received this email this week from someone who will be baptized this Sunday and I wanted to share with you a glimpse of what God is doing in the lives of those around us at UCF.
The part about how those two guys were re-baptized by Paul is so personal to me because when I was first baptized I knew it was a public declaration of my faith in God, but that was its only significance to me- "Yes, I believe in God"- But, like I told you on the phone, Christ has become so personal to me over the past few years that I feel like I need to be baptized again. Its because though I always believed in God, Jesus was never my personal savior, I didn't relate Him to my life and he wasn't the center of my focus. Let me tell you, the reason why I wept and gave my heart and everything that I am to God on Decmber 24, 2004 was because two things kept running through my mind. One: "He went through that for me" (meaning crucifixion & even more painful; seperation from God) and two: "I don't deserve this" (meaning that kind of mercy). I don't remember who it was but someone told me once when I was growing up that even if I had been the only person on Earth, Jesus still would've come and given up His life for me, I didn't realize the magnitude of that statement until I was able to see what He went through.
But even more than the fact that I want to "publicly declare" my belief and faith in God, the bigger reason for why I want to be baptized is that I want to affirm to myself and to God "Hey, I'm with You, I believe in You and love You." I want to discard my old self and way of life and be re-born, this time with a Greater purpose. I am not the way I used to be and I know that that truth remains the same whether I get baptized or not, but I still have this desire to physically do something that says I AM NOT THE SAME.
You are not going to want to miss this baptism!
ALSO, I have had a huge thought over the last few weeks as I have anticipated receiving my tax rebate in the mail. I would really like for everyone to consider giving $210 of your tax rebate to support Mike and Amy Rodgers. For those of you who don't know, Mike and Amy are UCF's first missionaries in Ethiopia. They have been there for 9 months and UCF supplies about 25% of their daily support. $210 is what it takes to provide for the Rodgers family for one day. So whether you are already a regular supporter, or this is the first time you have heard about it, please consider making it happen. If everyone kicks in, we will be able to fully fund and go above and beyond. I know they will have several extra costs coming up as the transition from Addis Ababa down to Lake Langano. This would make a huge impact and be an incredible encouragement to them as they serve. The second thought I had was to give that amount to Starfish Ministries which is led by Dave and Robin Laney. You can give this to UCF and put the place in the memo line! Just think of it as the US Government's way of getting the gospel to Ethiopia... kind of cool!
Love Loud... Risk Often,
David
4.07.2008
The Compassion Ripple
This Sunday was one of those days that we had a great plan and everything worked. I know that God is always present (when people say “God showed up” it is always odd to me) but there are sometimes when we are more aware or in tune with his presence than others. Today was one of those days for me. I knew that God wanted me to turn the focus of The Compassion Ripple on the ripple that is closest to us relationally. I look forward to hear the stories of life change as you move with compassionate love toward your spouse, your kids, your neighbors and co-workers. I know that many of you are at the end of yourselves and ready to all God to bring life beyond your wildest dreams into your life. One person who talked to me after the service simply said, “I am so there!” He meant that he is at the point of the end of himself and the beginning of God.
The video of how compassionate UCF is to the world around was incredible. The shots of houses being built in Mexico, homeless being fed in Charlotte and Omaha, houses being built for cancer patients in Hickory and a small party being thrown for 12,000 of our closet friends in Harrisburg… it was incredible. To think all of this took place in the last 20 days is even more amazing. The way that this community moves out into the world with compassionate love absolutely blows me away. That is why I didn’t have to spend much time today challenging UCF to serve the world more… all I had to do was celebrate it. This church is incredible.
We had 37 people at our “New to UCF” lunch. It was a great time of sharing who we are in a creative way that is distinctly UCF. I look forward to seeing how God uses each new person in our community.
A day at Ridge Church. Most of the staff went to Ridge Church on Sunday night. They are a new church (6 months young) that meets in Matthews. I was very excited about how much I knew we would learn from simply being in their environments and seeing how they create an amazing experience for people. We showed up at 2 pm to help them load in and set up for their service at 6 pm. Seeing a group of people who have planned and prayed for a few years to begin a church in itself is an awesome sight. The feelings of 20-30 volunteers doing something that significant with their time is incredible to be around. We are already making notes on what we learned and what it means for UCF. More to come.
The video of how compassionate UCF is to the world around was incredible. The shots of houses being built in Mexico, homeless being fed in Charlotte and Omaha, houses being built for cancer patients in Hickory and a small party being thrown for 12,000 of our closet friends in Harrisburg… it was incredible. To think all of this took place in the last 20 days is even more amazing. The way that this community moves out into the world with compassionate love absolutely blows me away. That is why I didn’t have to spend much time today challenging UCF to serve the world more… all I had to do was celebrate it. This church is incredible.
We had 37 people at our “New to UCF” lunch. It was a great time of sharing who we are in a creative way that is distinctly UCF. I look forward to seeing how God uses each new person in our community.
A day at Ridge Church. Most of the staff went to Ridge Church on Sunday night. They are a new church (6 months young) that meets in Matthews. I was very excited about how much I knew we would learn from simply being in their environments and seeing how they create an amazing experience for people. We showed up at 2 pm to help them load in and set up for their service at 6 pm. Seeing a group of people who have planned and prayed for a few years to begin a church in itself is an awesome sight. The feelings of 20-30 volunteers doing something that significant with their time is incredible to be around. We are already making notes on what we learned and what it means for UCF. More to come.
3.20.2008
Throwing a Party for Harrisburg: The Great Harrisburg Egg Drop!
We had a great idea to throw a party for Harrisburg AND 8000+ PEOPLE SHOWED UP! We approached the town of Harrisburg a few months with the idea of doing The Great Harrisburg Egg Drop. The idea came from hearing about it at a few different churches around the country. But our real motivation behind the event was the question, “what does our community really need?” We feel like the Harrisburg / University City community needs some times where families can have a great time together spending time with other families. So we began our planning. And boy were we RIGHT! Families definitely want to have a great time playing together along side other families in our community. We just didn’t know how right we were. When 8,000 – 12,000 people show up, you have definitely tapped into a need. It was great and challenging all at the same time. The crowds were awesome and also created some chaos that we are already working hard at solving for the future. Check out www.eggdropharrisburg.com for pictures of the event!
It was particularly interesting how one reporter characterized the event in a conversation with him. He started out by saying that he generally “HATES covering these things.” He doesn’t go to church and usually all of these type of events are nothing more than one long promotion for the church putting them on. As he put it, “They play this crappy music and mention their church over and over again.” All in all they masquerade as events that serve the community, but they are really more about just getting people to show up on Sunday morning. UCF is different. We want to love people around us by tapping into and meeting a heart-felt need whether they come to church or not. We certainly hope that people do come to UCF, but we don’t want people to have to endure our endless promotions so that they can enjoy a day in the park. This reporter was pleasantly surprised with our event. He knew by the materials and the volunteers that a church sponsored this event, but it wasn’t thrown in his face and shoved down his throat. He appreciated that. It made him curious as to why we would do something this way and we simply said, “for people like you.”
Doing things this way is different, because you have to put in a lot of extra steps. You begin to forge friendships with others who care about the community and have to avoid the different agendas of many. You reach into the lives of the many people who have been burned by churches just doing their church thing because you exist “for the good of the world” and not just “for the good of your church.” It is a cool thing to be a part of.
So what does our community really need? From a spiritual standpoint, I think the answer to that question is pretty easy, people need to be in a life-changing relationship with God in such a way that it impacts every aspect of how they relate to people around them.
The problem is that the very people who need this are pretty sure they don’t need it. However somewhere in the lives of those in our community, there is the need for something. A need for love, for community, for peace, for real joy, for contentment… and the list could go on. I know these things are ultimately found in God and I simply want to help people connect the dots!
The other problem is that some church people who think they have it (a life-changing relationship with God that impacts every aspect of how they relate to people around them)… don’t because it doesn’t cause them to love their neighbor as much as they love their self… their church… their agenda. The sooner church people can get over their own agenda and adopt the agenda of “love,” the sooner people in the world see a true picture of God.
love loud... risk often!
It was particularly interesting how one reporter characterized the event in a conversation with him. He started out by saying that he generally “HATES covering these things.” He doesn’t go to church and usually all of these type of events are nothing more than one long promotion for the church putting them on. As he put it, “They play this crappy music and mention their church over and over again.” All in all they masquerade as events that serve the community, but they are really more about just getting people to show up on Sunday morning. UCF is different. We want to love people around us by tapping into and meeting a heart-felt need whether they come to church or not. We certainly hope that people do come to UCF, but we don’t want people to have to endure our endless promotions so that they can enjoy a day in the park. This reporter was pleasantly surprised with our event. He knew by the materials and the volunteers that a church sponsored this event, but it wasn’t thrown in his face and shoved down his throat. He appreciated that. It made him curious as to why we would do something this way and we simply said, “for people like you.”
Doing things this way is different, because you have to put in a lot of extra steps. You begin to forge friendships with others who care about the community and have to avoid the different agendas of many. You reach into the lives of the many people who have been burned by churches just doing their church thing because you exist “for the good of the world” and not just “for the good of your church.” It is a cool thing to be a part of.
So what does our community really need? From a spiritual standpoint, I think the answer to that question is pretty easy, people need to be in a life-changing relationship with God in such a way that it impacts every aspect of how they relate to people around them.
The problem is that the very people who need this are pretty sure they don’t need it. However somewhere in the lives of those in our community, there is the need for something. A need for love, for community, for peace, for real joy, for contentment… and the list could go on. I know these things are ultimately found in God and I simply want to help people connect the dots!
The other problem is that some church people who think they have it (a life-changing relationship with God that impacts every aspect of how they relate to people around them)… don’t because it doesn’t cause them to love their neighbor as much as they love their self… their church… their agenda. The sooner church people can get over their own agenda and adopt the agenda of “love,” the sooner people in the world see a true picture of God.
love loud... risk often!
10.29.2007
Watershed Church and UCF
Today when I got to my desk I had a small package sitting on it. I opened it to find a DVD from Scott Hofert and Matt O’Neil at Watershed Church in uptown Charlotte. The video came as a thank you from them to University City Fellowship on their two year anniversary. It doesn’t seem like that long ago when we helped them launch. And I am filled with joy that we had an opportunity to play a part in getting them off the ground. Now they are a force for the kingdom of God in uptown Charlotte and I don’t know of two better people to lead a church that the uptown area needs other than Scott and Matt.
I laugh when I think of the six months that Scott spent on our staff. I laugh because we called him the “Intern.” He was the “intern” that knew more than all of us combined about what the church should be and how to make that a reality. When Scott and I would talk, I would be the one with making notes and trying to remember what he would say. Scott is one of those guys that I always look forward to hanging out with because they are always rich times. I had lunch last week with him to pick his brain about a Justice type series that I am working on for the early part of ’08.
When I think of opportunities like planting a church - really beginning a mission focused expression of the body of Christ that is set free to explode into a community- I am grateful. I am grateful for the way this changes me and us. They are thanking us (UCF) and all I can think of is thanking them for what they are leading and what they have poured into us.
So many times we miss out on these kind of opportunities because we do a quick cost-benefit analysis and we decide we don’t have time, don’t have the money, don’t have the leadership capacity to help someone or something else out. Situations where we are the strength or establishment or the mentor and we decide that we just can’t help a weaker person, a start-up group or someone in need of help. What we miss out on is the life change that would happen in us, if we would engage and give of ourselves. When we decide we just can’t we cut off the potential for life change.
We (Mendy and I, and our kids) are currently planning on adopting a child from Ethiopia. And while my heart breaks for the present conditions that this child is living in, and while I am fully aware that we will give him hope that he has never experienced, I think I am heading into this looking forward to how this child is going to change us. I can’t wait for a thank you card from a child, thanking us for changing his life. When I receive it… I will just laugh and know in my own heart that I am the one who will have been changed. Let the journey begin.
On a different note: A few things that are blowing me away right now:
1. Dave and Robin Laney (Omaha) – you HAVE TO READ what they are up to weekly
2. Mike and Amy Rodgers (Ethiopia) – simply amazed at their faithful journey and the
weekly updates on their blog
3. Creating a 3rd Space – anyone know what I am talking about
4. Our new family room (UCF’s small groups)
5. Stories from those of you who are investing in relationships and inviting them to church.
I laugh when I think of the six months that Scott spent on our staff. I laugh because we called him the “Intern.” He was the “intern” that knew more than all of us combined about what the church should be and how to make that a reality. When Scott and I would talk, I would be the one with making notes and trying to remember what he would say. Scott is one of those guys that I always look forward to hanging out with because they are always rich times. I had lunch last week with him to pick his brain about a Justice type series that I am working on for the early part of ’08.
When I think of opportunities like planting a church - really beginning a mission focused expression of the body of Christ that is set free to explode into a community- I am grateful. I am grateful for the way this changes me and us. They are thanking us (UCF) and all I can think of is thanking them for what they are leading and what they have poured into us.
So many times we miss out on these kind of opportunities because we do a quick cost-benefit analysis and we decide we don’t have time, don’t have the money, don’t have the leadership capacity to help someone or something else out. Situations where we are the strength or establishment or the mentor and we decide that we just can’t help a weaker person, a start-up group or someone in need of help. What we miss out on is the life change that would happen in us, if we would engage and give of ourselves. When we decide we just can’t we cut off the potential for life change.
We (Mendy and I, and our kids) are currently planning on adopting a child from Ethiopia. And while my heart breaks for the present conditions that this child is living in, and while I am fully aware that we will give him hope that he has never experienced, I think I am heading into this looking forward to how this child is going to change us. I can’t wait for a thank you card from a child, thanking us for changing his life. When I receive it… I will just laugh and know in my own heart that I am the one who will have been changed. Let the journey begin.
On a different note: A few things that are blowing me away right now:
1. Dave and Robin Laney (Omaha) – you HAVE TO READ what they are up to weekly
2. Mike and Amy Rodgers (Ethiopia) – simply amazed at their faithful journey and the
weekly updates on their blog
3. Creating a 3rd Space – anyone know what I am talking about
4. Our new family room (UCF’s small groups)
5. Stories from those of you who are investing in relationships and inviting them to church.
9.10.2007
Last Sunday
Yesterday was huge!!! I am pumped about our new series and our Kidstuf kickoff. The ingenuity that went into transforming the auditorium from our main neighborhood gathering into the most incredible kid's environment in the area is amazing! Several years ago when I first heard about Kidstuf, I imagined a day like yesterday happening at a church that I was a part of. I simply loved the idea of providing a service for KIDS AND THEIR PARENTS to learn and grow together.
Somehow churches have to wake up to the idea that what they have been doing for the last 40 years with children and youth ISN'T WORKING. Just look at the stats. My point is that no matter how cool, how new, or how innovative churches become in their approach to children and youth, it isn't going to help until they help parents actually engage their kids and be great parents. Most churches I know actually re-enforce the problem because they enable parents to dis-engage their kids by dropping them off and not having to worry about them for the next hour or so. Kidstuf does the exact opposite. It gives the child and the parent a SHARED EXPERIENCE that they both love so that they can interact throughout the week on what they are learning. I love the fact that UCF is equipping my family to be a great family all week long 365 days a year. The Neighborhood Gathering give us the adult time (with kids in their ministries for "their" time), but then we get to experience an incredible service together.
I talked to a mom yesterday afternoon who has a 10 month old and plays a part in Kidstuf. She simply expressed to me how excited she was that she was going to be raising her family in a place that made this possible week after week. I look forward to hearing the stories of parents being great parents, of kids knowing that their parents are involved in their lives, and of churches that care enough to provide a place for this to happen.
Somehow churches have to wake up to the idea that what they have been doing for the last 40 years with children and youth ISN'T WORKING. Just look at the stats. My point is that no matter how cool, how new, or how innovative churches become in their approach to children and youth, it isn't going to help until they help parents actually engage their kids and be great parents. Most churches I know actually re-enforce the problem because they enable parents to dis-engage their kids by dropping them off and not having to worry about them for the next hour or so. Kidstuf does the exact opposite. It gives the child and the parent a SHARED EXPERIENCE that they both love so that they can interact throughout the week on what they are learning. I love the fact that UCF is equipping my family to be a great family all week long 365 days a year. The Neighborhood Gathering give us the adult time (with kids in their ministries for "their" time), but then we get to experience an incredible service together.
I talked to a mom yesterday afternoon who has a 10 month old and plays a part in Kidstuf. She simply expressed to me how excited she was that she was going to be raising her family in a place that made this possible week after week. I look forward to hearing the stories of parents being great parents, of kids knowing that their parents are involved in their lives, and of churches that care enough to provide a place for this to happen.
8.31.2007
A "Dangerous" Church
I remember a conversation I had with someone who had been to UCF a few months and wanted to know a little more. At the end of our conversation he called us a "dangerous church." Dangerous in the sense that our desire to follow Christ takes on a barbaric, unconventional, sometimes inappropriate expression - but it IS unmistakably following Christ. Dangerous in that we are not bound by the usual thinking of most churches, dangerous because we are focused on the world, dangerous because we are clear in our focus, and dangerous because we don't seem to take the same path as most new suburban churches.
I think one of the things that makes us dangerous is the responsiveness of UCF as a community.
-A few weeks ago we received all the commitments necessary to provide 25% of the funds necessary for Mike and Amy Rodgers (missionaries to Ethiopia). Initially we committed to 17% of their support (which we raised in one day in Feb.). But two months ago we realized they were running short on their full support and needed to get on the ground in Ethiopia in August to begin language training. We committed to picking up another 8% of their support. You guys have stepped up in huge ways to make sure the mission of Christ is fully funded and fully resourced. Thanks for being responsive to this need.
-A few weeks ago, I talked with Rich Garretson who is leading our Habitat for Humanity work here in our community. He told me that over the last two weeks he has been overwhelmed with the number of people who have signed up for Sept 8th and Sept 15th. We have all we need, but he isn't going to turn anyone away. Thanks for being responsive to a simple opportunity to serve people in our backyard.
-We are approaching the 4 year mark of feeding our homeless friends every Saturday in uptown Charlotte. And we aren’t talking about 20 or 30, we are talking about over 100 each week. And it isn’t only about feeding people, it is about using a meal to build relationships with friends… friends who happen to not have a house.
-8 months ago, I knew I couldn’t ignore God’s directions to care for orphans. It started in James 1, but spread to the other parts of the bible. It began in my heart and mind but was exploded in my face on the streets of Ethiopia. In the last few months God has led several to begin the adoption process, we have a passionate point leader (Ron Smith) making plans, we held our first adoption workshop led by Aimee Pfitzner with 16 families represented who are open to what God has for them regarding the orphans of the world, and we have begun a plan to help fund adoptions for years to come which has over $30,000 in it at this point.
-on top of this is 8 houses built in Mexico, a family service every week like KIDSTUF, middle school and high school communities that are thriving, and a growing focus on changing lives one on one.
These things have left me thinking about who we are as a church. "Dangerous" is a good word. We respond to God, we respond to our world, we respond to our community and we respond to people! We engage what God puts before us and we make it happen. I talk many times with people who wonder how a church our size loves people this much. I mean we don't have a thousand people knocking these things out. The fact of the matter is those churches that do have a thousand people usually only have about 20-30% of the people actually loving people around them. I'm not sure but I think we probably have at least 75% of the people doing something to express God's love in our world. I wonder what a church that has 100% of people loving others looks like.
Note: At this point some of you are saying, "wait a minute, what do you mean by love people that much." All people love, all churches love... right! Well, love is measured by action not by words. People and churches can say they love people, but love is a verb! Love is responsive, love is active, love changes people, love changes the world around us. I love the way you guys love. Thanks for loving!
I think one of the things that makes us dangerous is the responsiveness of UCF as a community.
-A few weeks ago we received all the commitments necessary to provide 25% of the funds necessary for Mike and Amy Rodgers (missionaries to Ethiopia). Initially we committed to 17% of their support (which we raised in one day in Feb.). But two months ago we realized they were running short on their full support and needed to get on the ground in Ethiopia in August to begin language training. We committed to picking up another 8% of their support. You guys have stepped up in huge ways to make sure the mission of Christ is fully funded and fully resourced. Thanks for being responsive to this need.
-A few weeks ago, I talked with Rich Garretson who is leading our Habitat for Humanity work here in our community. He told me that over the last two weeks he has been overwhelmed with the number of people who have signed up for Sept 8th and Sept 15th. We have all we need, but he isn't going to turn anyone away. Thanks for being responsive to a simple opportunity to serve people in our backyard.
-We are approaching the 4 year mark of feeding our homeless friends every Saturday in uptown Charlotte. And we aren’t talking about 20 or 30, we are talking about over 100 each week. And it isn’t only about feeding people, it is about using a meal to build relationships with friends… friends who happen to not have a house.
-8 months ago, I knew I couldn’t ignore God’s directions to care for orphans. It started in James 1, but spread to the other parts of the bible. It began in my heart and mind but was exploded in my face on the streets of Ethiopia. In the last few months God has led several to begin the adoption process, we have a passionate point leader (Ron Smith) making plans, we held our first adoption workshop led by Aimee Pfitzner with 16 families represented who are open to what God has for them regarding the orphans of the world, and we have begun a plan to help fund adoptions for years to come which has over $30,000 in it at this point.
-on top of this is 8 houses built in Mexico, a family service every week like KIDSTUF, middle school and high school communities that are thriving, and a growing focus on changing lives one on one.
These things have left me thinking about who we are as a church. "Dangerous" is a good word. We respond to God, we respond to our world, we respond to our community and we respond to people! We engage what God puts before us and we make it happen. I talk many times with people who wonder how a church our size loves people this much. I mean we don't have a thousand people knocking these things out. The fact of the matter is those churches that do have a thousand people usually only have about 20-30% of the people actually loving people around them. I'm not sure but I think we probably have at least 75% of the people doing something to express God's love in our world. I wonder what a church that has 100% of people loving others looks like.
Note: At this point some of you are saying, "wait a minute, what do you mean by love people that much." All people love, all churches love... right! Well, love is measured by action not by words. People and churches can say they love people, but love is a verb! Love is responsive, love is active, love changes people, love changes the world around us. I love the way you guys love. Thanks for loving!
Baptism
This past Sunday's baptism was one of the highlights of the six years that UCF has existed. It is hard for me to put my finger on why, other than the obvious (people expressing faith in Jesus Christ, people's lives changing, celebrating God and those relationships that He has used in the process of salvation). But there was something else about this baptism... there was freedom... joy... life... community... love… all openly expressed and felt. My conclusion is that these are all things that come from God's Spirit. Now I know that God's Spirit was present, but it is always present when we a doing God's business. 
So what was the difference. I think the difference was me, my perspective, my awareness of how pervasive the Spirit always is, my realization of how he has worked in the lives of those in the water, my gratitude that God has used me to play a part in the process. It left me a little bit speechless... and overwhelmingly grateful. I love what God continues to do in this spiritual community called UCF!
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