Vision

I love where God has RiverTree headed.

A friend of mine wrote that he couldn't imagine doing what he is doing for the next 20 years. He's a Pastor of a large church that is involved in bulding programs, keeping the "machine" running, lots of fund raising to pay the bills and, in general, stuff he never knew he was signing on to do as a Pastor.

I love what I get to do at RiverTree!

I love that we're focusing on people on the margins of society. That we sponsor more than 800 children through Compassion International. That we're helping build Hannah's Home (a place for teen unwed girls) in Peru. That we've partnered and are continuing to walk alongside Dyetski Dom and Project Sasha in the Ukrainne. That's something I can give my life to--it's something Jesus gave His life to.

I love that we're not about putting up a bunch of big buildings. That we're committed to reaching 30,000 people, but we'll do it as a virus and not as an elephant. I would much rather raise funds to pour into people rather than building projects.

I love that we're committed to "make it hard to go to Hell in Ohio." That we're synergizing with church planting organizations, other healthy churches and universities to plant churches all over the state. 50 new churches in the next 10 years!

I love that we're committed to seemless life development. From cradle to grave we're developing a strategy to help children commit their lives to being Jesus followers and then grow on their journey in building God's Kingdom until the day Jesus returns or this life comes to a close.

I love where God has RiverTree headed and I love that I get to be part of it. There is nothing else I can imagine doing.

Will you join me on the journey?

The Island

I found myself sitting six inches above rancid water in a canoe filled with 12 people. Human feces and garbage floated past us as we traversed the hundred yards or so that would land us on the Island of Condemned People.

Ecuador is a beautiful country with vast resources. Unfortunately, most of the resources are hoarded by the rich politicians and the landscape of the poor is desolate. It was to the home of one of the poor that I was traveling.

Juan Stephen has grown up in Quayaquil, Ecuador. Most sociologists would give him absolutely zero hope of ever building a better life for himself. To be born in the midst of horrible poverty, particularly on the Island of Condemned People, is a sentence to failure. Unless God enters the picture. And that is exactly what happened.

Thirty years ago a Pastor had a dream. He began to work amidst the poorest of the poor. He began to partner with an organization known as Compassion International. A project was begun to care for, teach and bring hope to hundreds of children on the Island of Condemned People. Juan Stephen was one of those children.

Today Juan is a 26 year old Jesus follower. As a result of Compassion International’s Leadership Development Program he will graduate next year from the University of Ecuador. His dream? To be the Minister of Communications for the entire country.

The first time I met Juan Stephen was at a dinner where, dressed in suit and tie, he articulately told his story. With humor, he explained how the other students in the University would not believe where he told them that he lived. I believe him . . . because I have been there.

The canoe took us to the shore and then we traveled dusty streets to finally arrive at the home of Juan and his family. A simple cinder block building that Juan’s mother obviously worked diligently to keep clean and make into a home. We were invited in. Three small rooms. All smaller than walk-in closets in the U.S. One light bulb in each room. A hammock in the back room where Juan’s 86 year old grandmother lay whimpering, soon to pass from this life.

Juan took us into his bedroom. He explained that the roof leaked profusely when it rained. He showed us the radio he had built from scratch when he was just a child. He pointed out that there are no computers in their house. No cable television. No telephones. By most standards . . . hopeless.

Juan asked that I bring back a message for the young people of America. With great humility he said, “Please tell the young people that if God can do this in my life, in these conditions, then imagine what he can do through your life.”

Juan’s island is no longer known as the Island of Condemned People. God assures us that “He did not send His Son, Jesus, into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through Him, might be saved.” (John 3:17) Because of God working through Compassion International, the local church and young people like Juan Stephen, hope has entered a hopeless world.

Notes from Ecuador

After a lengthy day of travel (20 hours) I made it home last night at about 1 AM. Our flight was delayed out of Quito by 2 1/2 hours, soooo, virtually all of us missed our connections.

Gary Dolan, our Executive Pastor at RiverTree, asked me on a scale from 1 to 10 how the trip was. I said, "On a scale from 1 to 10, the trip was a 12!"

Let me begin by giving you some of the nuggets I learned on this journey . . .

*For every child sponsored through Compassion International, the local church that runs the Compassion Project gains "credible access" to 30 other people in the community--simply because the church is loving and caring for the child in Jesus' name.

*You cannot debate a Muslim into the Kingdom of God, but you can love a Muslim into the Kingdom of God. --Wess Stafford

*Compassion is partnering with 190 churches in the country of Ecuador alone--4,000 churches worldwide. They are adding one new church every single day.

*Grenadier fruit is this amazing tasting fruit that you can eat in Ecuador. It has one down-side . . . it's texture is like eating crunchy snot (at least that's what I would imagine crunchy snot to . . .).

*There are 12 million people living in Ecuador, only 5-8% are Evangelical Christians.

To check it out, go to http://www.compassion.com/.

Ecuador bound

It's early Monday morning. In just a few moments I'll be heading to Cleveland to fly to Ecuador.

At three this afternoon I'll be joining 12 other Jesus-following leaders from across the country in Miami, Florida. In Miami we'll board a jet that will take us into Guayaquil. We'll spend the next five days hanging out together, being exposed to extreme poverty, but most importantly experiencing the work that Compassion International is doing to be Jesus to the world. In fact, my mentor, Wess Stafford (President of Compassion), is leading the trip.

Deeply appreciate any prayers you would care to send up.

The church I help lead, RiverTree Christian, already sponsors more than 800 children in South America. My family has sponsored a little girl in Ecuador, Inte, for the past several years. In fact, we just received a letter from her this weekend.

Wouldn't it be amazing if more than 8,000 additional children around the world would be sponsored as a result of this trip?

Once again, deeply appreciate your prayers.

To learn more about Compassion's incredible work, and to sponsor a child, go to www.compassion.com.

Words I heard my dad say

Words I never heard my dad say:

"How on earth can you see the tv sitting so far back?"

"Yeah, I used to skip school a lot too."

"Just leave all the lights on . . . it makes the house look more cheery."

"Let me smell that shirt. Yeah, it's good for another week."

"Go ahead and keep that stray dog. I'll be glad to feed and walk him every day."

"Go ahead and use my tools. In fact, leave them wherever you use them. I'm just happy to see you working so hard."

"The curfew is just a general time to shoot for."

Words I heard my dad say:

"Pick yourself up and try harder this time!"

"You have to hold your mouth just like this if you want to catch a fish."

"Never talk back to your mother."

"This is going to hurt me a lot more than it's going to hurt you."

"Is that money burning a hole in your pocket? You don't have to spend every dime you get."

"Say your prayers."

"I'm proud of you son."

Happy Father's Day dad. And thank-you for the words you didn't say and for the ones you did.

How does a fertilized egg become human?

I just came across this short blurb by Steve Olson, author of Mapping Human History. Steve writes, “Imagine that you place a 1-inch-wide black cube in an empty field. Suddenly the cube makes copies of itself—two, four, eight, 16. The proliferating cubes begin to form structures—enclosures, arches, walls, tubes. Some of the tubes turn into wires, PVC pipes, structural steel, wooden studs. Sheets of cubes become wallboard and wood paneling, carpet and plate-glass windows. The wires begin connecting themselves into a network of immense complexity. Eventually, a 100-story skyscraper stands in the field.

That’s basically the process a fertilized cell undergoes beginning with the moment of conception. How did that cube know how to make a skyscraper? How does a cell know how to make a human (or any other mammal)? Biologists used to think that the cellular proteins somehow carried the instructions. But now proteins look more like pieces of brick and stone—useless without a building plan and a mason. The instructions for how to build an organism must be written in a cell’s DNA, but no one has figured out exactly how to read them.”

Ummm, let me respond with one of my favorite writings from God. This one is found in Psalm 139. “O Lord, you made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!”

What I love about this passage of the Bible is that it not only answers (albeit at a high level) Steve’s question, but it assures every one of us of the fact that God has precious thoughts about us. For me personally, the exact method that God used and continues to use for creation is not nearly as important as the fact that it is God that creates. And, even more importantly, that God LOVES what He creates!

How does a fertilized egg become human? The world may never know. But I hope we do find out. Because the more science discovers, the more God is glorified by His awesome abilities and motives.

The Long Walk

I finished reading The Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz last night. Actually, it has been tough to put down for the past couple of days. The Long Walk is the true story of seven men who are unjustly imprisoned by the Russian government in the late 1930s. And, they're sent to one of the most notorious and desolate prisons in world history . . . the Siberian wasteland in Irkutsk.

Slavomir writes in the forward to the Polish edition, "I hope The Long Walk will remain as a memorial to all those who live and die for freedom, and for all those who for many reasons could not speak for themselves. I had to tell my story as a warning to the living, and as a moral judgment for the greater good."

In 1941, Slavomir and 6 others escaped their Siberian prison. In their bid for freedom they had to cross the unimaginable frozen tundra of Siberia, traverse the blazing heat of the Gobi desert and make their final ascent through the Himalayan mountains . . . all on foot!

The Long Walk is a courageous and inspiring story of the triumph of the human spirit and the power of comaraderie.

Pick this one up.

The Secret Of Success

In 838 BC a man named Amaziah becomes King of the nation of Judah. Judah is the Southern half of the divided nation of God’s people and Israel is the Northern half. Amaziah is King of the Southern half.

After reigning for 29 years, Amaziah is assassinated and his 16 year old son, Uzziah, becomes King in his place. Uzziah, at such a young age, begins his reign with great success and promise. He has a long, uninterrupted series of military victories, he makes national improvements and he opens up new commercial trade opportunities for the nation he leads. But he doesn’t stop there.

Uzziah designs new war machines (historians believe they were catapults that could hurl arrows and large rocks at opposing armies with greater force and accuracy than ever before). He fortifies strategic cities. He oversees vast enterprises of livestock and farming systems. He digs cisterns that provide his people with water. He enjoys vast, productive vineyards. Uzziah is a King noted for his diverse interests and unusual intelligence.

How did a young King named Uzziah accomplish so much?

Here it is in a nutshell: God helped him. (2 Chronicles 26:7)

A few verses later in 2 Chronicles 26, verse 15, it says that Uzziah was marvelously helped by God.

Uzziah discovered the secret of his success . . . God.

2 Chronicles 26:5 says, Uzziah sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. And as long as the king sought the LORD, God gave him success.
And now the best part.

2 Chronicles 16:11 says, For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.

This is not just an Old Testament principle! This is a principle for all of us today!

In Matthew 6:33 Jesus promises, God will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.

And in Hebrews 11:6 the Apostle Paul writes, God rewards those who sincerely seek Him.

Friends, discover the “secret of your success” and everything else will fall into place.

More from Coeur d'Alene

So, who would have thought Idaho would contain some of the most beautiful country in the United States? When I'm headed out there I'm thinking, "Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes." I couldn't have been more wrong! I shoud have been thinking, "Mountains and lakes, mountains and lakes."

Here are a few more highlights from my trip . . .

*I got to see the famous "floating green" at the Coeur d'Alene Golf Resort. The green literally is surrounded by water (you can only get to it by boat) and the distance to the green is changed daily. The day I stood on the tee (unfortunately, just to look . . . I didn't have my clubs with me) the distance was 170 yards. Very intimidating.

*I spent a good bit of time with this great Pastor named Graydon Jessup. He leads a church of about 2500 people in Southern California. The thing that I loved about Graydon is that he is a YOUNG 65 years old. For example, when Graydon preaches at their 11:00 service on Sunday morning he encourages people in the church to text message questions to him. The questions go up on the big screens and then he takes time to answer them during his teaching. Very interactive. Very innovative.

*I visited Real Life Ministries where my friend Jim Putman is Senior Pastor. The church is located in Post Falls, Idaho and has grown from zero to 8,000 people in 9 years! God is at work all over the place!!!

*I need to check out this amazing software called Mind Manager. The team I was with was using it to map out our brainstorming sessions.

*I met this amazing guy who only lives 20 minutes from me in Ohio (We had to fly across the country to meet one another). Anyhow, this guy, Mark Cook, lives in this little town in Ohio called East Sparta. The really cool thing is that Mark has converted his grandparents farm into his home AND conference center. Come to find out that he is a very successful commodities broker--in the middle of nowhere. He holds seminars to train people who fly in from all over the world . . . to East Sparta! Mark is using his giftedness to expand God's Kingdom. Once again, God is at work all over the place!!!

Coeur d'Alene

I've spent the past couple of days in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho (just outside of Spokane, Washington) working with Church Development Fund on how they can better serve the local church.

Church Development Fund is this amazing not-for-profit Christian investment and lending fund that is a major contributor to bringing God's Kingdom to earth right here and right now. Not only do they lend money to help churches expand (many banks won't lend to churches), but they also give money to help plant new churches all over the country.

After being in business for more than 50 years, they are considered to be a wonderful investment opportunity for people like you and me. Go to www.cdfonline.org to find out how you can become involved.

A good bit of travel time from coast to coast. On one flight out I finished the book, Made To Stick, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. ANYONE who is in the communication business MUST read this book!

During my layover in Denver I picked up the book, Busting Vegas, by Ben Mezrich. It's the true story of some MIT grads who developed a system to beat the blackjack tables at casinos around the world. I couldn't put it down!

Okay, back into meetings.

Wisdom from my wife

I was standing in the back of the room as church started this weekend. My wife, Julie, who is also the Worship Director for RiverTree, started reading some words while on stage. I'm listening to them and I'm thinking, "Those are really good." After the service was over I asked her who she was reading from. And she responded that it was simply some stuff she had written in her journal. So, with her permission, this is a beautiful prayer from my amazing wife.

God, thank-you for remembering me when I forget you. Thank-you for being faithful to me when I turn my back on you. Thank-you for defending me when I fail to stand up for you. Thank-you for loving me when I'm too tired to love you back. Thank-you for being my friend when I don't give you a moment of my time. Thank-you for believing in me when I don't believe in you. Thank-you for forgiving me when I haven't forgiven myself. Thank-you for trusting me with others even when I don't trust you with the others I love. Thank-you for paying attention to my life even when I've ignored you for months. Thank-you for rescuing me when I didn't recognize you as Savior. Thank-you for loving this sinner when I didn't know that I was one.