Help Me Celebrate My 50th Birthday

This is my last week to enjoy my 40's. The past decade has been quite a ride! But next Friday (Friday the 13th actually), I will be celebrating the big 50. Would you help me celebrate it in a BIG way?

In October - November 2007, I visited a region of Ethiopia called Guraghe. My friend Barbara and I had the opportunity to travel with World Vision and see first hand how the good news of Christ enacted in word and deed can bring real help and hope to people in desperate need. Clean water, health care, food security, the empowerment of women through education, care provided to orphans and vulnerable children, churches being birthed - these are true signs of the life that Jesus desires for all people. I have been thrilled that our faith community has jumped headfirst into a partnership with the people of Guraghe. We have sponsored almost 75 children there and contributed to special projects like the Mother and Infant Nutrition Initiative. As a leader, our commitment really pumps me up and I am extremely proud of our community

There has been one group of servants in Guraghe that have been heavy on my heart lately. One Sunday afternoon in Guraghe, I had lunch with about dozen men who are serving the emerging churches in that community. Evangelical Christianity does not have a long history or broad reach in Guraghe, but in conjunction with the tangible expressions of the Gospel through World Vision, the Church of Jesus Christ is being established and people's lives are being changed, physically and spiritually.

As we talked with these pastors and they shared their God-stories, I was overwhelmed by their commitment and sacrifice for the sake of the Gospel and the life of the Church. Each of them worked a full time job and yet poured themselves out for the people of the community. Not long ago I read the words from James 1:9, "Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position," and I immediately thought of these pastors. They wouldn't trade their call and humble place in life for anything the world could offer. And as I reflected upon these words from Scripture, the Holy Spirit prompted me to do something.

My venti dream for my 50th year is to bring blessing and encouragement to the pastors of Guraghe. Would you help me celebrate my birthday by making that dream a reality?

I have been working with World Vision, both here and in Ethiopia, to find a tangible expression of encouragement and support for these faithful servants. After consultation with the World Vision Guraghe staff and the local pastor’s fellowship in Guraghe we have landed upon a great concept. Our goal is to create a Pastors Resource Center that will help the local pastors serve their people more faithfully and fruitfully. The Resource Center would contain Bible study and other reference materials, musical and sound equipment, and basic office furnishings. All of these items will resource these pastors and greatly encourage them in their common ministry.

Someone asked me what I wanted for my birthday. They wanted to give me something significant and meaningful. While I have never asked for a birthday gift like this, I figured you are only 50 once – why not go for it!

Our church is establishing a special fund to do this very thing. If this resonates with you and you would like to help make this dream a reality, please send a check (payable to CCCSH – memo Guraghe PRC) to:

Christ Community Church of the South Hills
PO Box 13393
Pittsburgh, PA 15243

Thanks so much for considering this. Your generosity will help catalyze spiritual transformation among the people of Guraghe. And synergized with the physical and material expressions of love, men and women, boys and girls will experience the full life of Jesus Christ. And I could think of no better birthday gift!

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Good News from OptINnow

For the past year, I have been trying to bring real help and hope to women in Africa through micro-economics loans. By partnering with others through the work of organizations like KIVA and OptINnow, small amounts of money can make a huge difference to some of the poorest yet hardest working people on the planet.

Today I received this update on a loan I made about six months ago to a Kenyan women named Florence Achieng. It is a reminder that God is in the business of transforming lives and bringing all the broken and disclosed pieces of the universe back together again in and through Jesus Christ. As you read her story, if the Spirit so prompts you, why not invest $25, in the life of a hard working woman in Africa. Help her break the cycle of poverty and get with the God who is on the side of the widow and the ophran.

OptINnow Update

Florence Achieng is a young industrious lady aged 30 married with 1 child and lives with her brother and sister. She is able to earn money to pay for her loan,provide for the basic needs and to invest Kshs.1000 in her bank account monthly. She wishes to expand her grocery business to carry tomatoes and cereals.

Florence Achieng runs a grocery business in her neighborhood. She meets her customers' needs so they do not have to travel far to purchase groceries. Certain clients have asked her to provide them with regular stock of certain grocery items, and so she has used her loan to satisfy their demands by purchasing certain goods in wholesale. When she satisfies her customer's demands, she increases her profits. With these profits from the wise investment of her loan, she was able to expand her grocery store to include the sale of chips (American French Fries), the most common cheap lunch item in Kenya. The sale of this popular lunch item has really assisted Florence in providing for her household. Thank you for the hand-up you gave Florence through this loan! This loan was repaid in full.

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Album as Art-Form: A Sonic Feast

I have been listening to U2's "No Line on the Horizon" for the past couple of days. I have intentionally been listening to it as a whole - from the opening title track to the plaintive final offering, "Cedars of Lebanon." It is a masterful work of art from beginning to end. In this day and age of iTunes and single downloads, it is refreshing to know that there are still a few artists who have the artistic desire, will, and ability to pursue the album as art-form. (remember "Dark Side of the Moon" or "Abby Road"). As much as I appreciated Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" and their venture into the album as art-form (and believe me I truly do enjoy listening to it from beginning to end), it pales in comparison to NLOTH - musically, and lyrically and it is capacity to take this listener to a transcendent place. Experiencing this album has been a sonic feast for both my ears and my soul.

What about you? Is there an album that you experience in this way? Another art form where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts? I would love to hear your thoughts?

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Put on Your Boots

Our Gulf Coast team is completing a week of serving in the Houston area. Monday thru Thursday they have been primarily serving as a painting crew - working in both a residential context (Miss Pat's) and helping a local church (Gloria Dei) recover from the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

They will finish their work today and tomorrow with what looks to be a major challenge - mucking out a home on Galveston Island. This house has basically been ignored since Ike struck the island. The equipment of the day: high boots and respirators. Don't they look great?!

I am so grateful to be a part of a community that is willing to roll up its sleeves, take up the towel, put on their boots and muck it up in the name and Spirit of Jesus. If you would join me in prayer, lifting them up before the Father asking God to strengthen them for the task at hand!

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U2 and Letterman

The Associated Press, February 12, 2009

NEW YORK (AP) -- Make room, Paul Shaffer. U2 will be on David Letterman's "Late Show" for a full week to promote their upcoming album. The band will be Letterman's musical guest each night from March 2 to 6. It's the first time a musical guest has been given a solid week on the CBS show. The band last appeared on the "Late Show" in October 2001.

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Compassion Art

Martin Smith is one of my favorite musicians, songwriters, and worship leaders. Along with his mates in Delirious, over the last 15 years they have created some amazing music. The band is winding down their work together in 2009, but Martin Smith has released catalyzed a project that has tremendous potential to bring real help and hope to people in real need.

The project is called Compassion Art and they describe themselves as follows: "CompassionArt is a charity that joins the dots between art and poverty. It raises money to help breathe life into the poorest communities, restoring hope and igniting justice."

Smith describes the journey of Compassion Art:

"As a song writer and a person with a microphone I made a promise to try and do something about it. What better than to call on my friends and do something together. To be people that can make a change rather than just singing about it. So the dream was born to gather some of the best-known writers in the gospel/Christian music scene and spend the week writing songs that could impact these issues on a long-term basis.

So after many phone calls, the team was assembled, Michael W. Smith, Darlene Zschech, Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, Tim Hughes, Paul Baloche, Israel Houghton, Graham Kendrick, Steven Curtis-Chapman, Andy Park, Stu Garrard, Martin Smith.

So, with so many songwriters gathering it felt like we needed a new structure to compliment and carry this dream. The usual way of doing things is for a publisher to own the songs and then distribute them to the writers. Although there's nothing wrong with this it felt like we needed a more radical approach to maximising all the income from these songs as the intention of the writers is to give every cent away. Also a lot of the publishers and managers were excited about being involved too and making a contribution.

So CompassionArt was born, a charity dedicated to seeing works of art generate income for the poorest of the poor. So these songs that will be written in Scotland in January will be owned by the charity meaning that every penny will come to it and the trust will own these copyrights forever. The publishers, the managers, the agents and the writers have waived all their rights to see something historic happen, the music business coming together for something great, something that is about something greater than any individual could achieve. So January 7th-11th 2008 we will be in Scotland, 13 people giving something of themselves for a big cause. We hope we will write some of the great songs together, watch this space, watch the future."

There is some great music on this collection and the movement of the Spirit at times is palpable. One of the very cool things about the project is that all the songwriters received songwriter credits for each song in the collection. Two of my favorites right now are "King of Wonders" and "Friend of the Poor."

Listening to these songs the past couple of days has stirred my heart and rekindled a passion for our sisters and brothers in Africa. I shared an idea to encourage locals pastors in Guraghe with a VP at World Vision and on Friday I will be in Chicago and have the opportunity to recconnect with Tim, a pastor with whom I traveled to Ethiopia in November 2007. I love how God knows what we need at just the right time.

Get a taste of Compassion Art here and may our hearts break with the things that break the heart of God.

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A Testament of Hope

This is a historic week in our history as a nation and my hope is to post a couple of things that reflect these momentous days.

This morning I reread Martin Luther King Jr's essay "A Testament of Hope." Hope is not a subjective feeling or wishful thinking about the future. Hope is based upon an objective reality and any hope that is based on anything other than this is nothing more than "pie in the sky dreaming." I was struck by these words from Dr King:

"People are often surprises to learn that I am an optimist. They know how often I have been jailed, how frequently the days and nights have been filled with frustration and sorrow, how bitter and dangerous are my adversaries. They expect these experiences to harden me into a grim and desperate man. They fail, however, to perceive the sense of affirmation generated by the challenge of embracing struggle and surmounting obstacles. They have no comprehension of the strength that comes from faith in God and man. It is possible for me to falter, but I am profoundly secure in my knowledge that God loves us; he has not worked out a design for our failure. Man has the capacity to do right as well as wrong, and his history is a path upward, not downward."

If anyone in history had the right to become a jaded, cynical, angry and vindictive person, it was Dr King. The hatred, bigotry, and evil that was thrown at him from all sides was brutal. Recently, I have become aware of some anger issues brewing within myself and I have been grappling with how to process them in a healthy way. Dr King never minimized the wrong in his world - yet, he refused to allow the wrong to control him. Hope, in God and in humanity, sustained him.

Some may say Dr. King was naive and that he thought too much of humankind's capacity to do right. His closing words of this essay remind me, that King's hope was not a subjective hope, but rather a hope that was certain and secure because it was grounded in the belief in a personal God who is on the side justice and the right.

"A voice out of Bethlehem two thousand years ago said that all men are crated equal. It said right would triumph. Jesus of Nazareth wrote no books; he owned no property to endow him with influence. He had no friends in the courts of the powerful. But he changed the course of history with only the poor and despise. Naive and unsophisticated though we may be, the poor and despised of the 20th century will revolutionize this ear. In our 'arrogance, lawlessness, and ingratitude,' we will fight for human justice, brotherhood, secure peace and abundance for all. When we have won these - in a spirit of unshakable nonviolence - then, in luminous splendor, the Christian era will truly begin."

Dr. King saw it! May our eyes be open to see it as well.

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