My Princess Turns 1 year!!

Wow, has it been a year? December 28, 2004 my life was rocked by a little girl, Isabela. I was nervous, scared and intimidated by this little woman. But in a year I have been totally whipped by her smile, laugh, sweet spirit and beauty. Today Benjamin, my 5 year old, comes in asking what we should get Isa. He mentioned she needs a wallet to save her money. Other options were a cell phone or a toy. Maybe a girl Bionicle (he's not sure they exist but that would be cool.)

Categories: Photos, Family

Ephesus Church Planting Movement

Recently Jay Lorenzen posted an excellent article on What does it take to Start a Movement? J. Allen Thompson looks at Ephesus. This is a must read and great insights on reaching cities, regions, countries. Hmm. Thoughts on Mexico City.
Categories: Movements, MexicoCity

Praying the 10:2b prayer

About two months ago John White, Dawn Ministries of Denver, shared a visionary daily prayer he prays. Luke 10:2b; "Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." I took the challenge inconsistently but took the challenge anyway. Daily at 10:02am my alarm goes off to remind me to pray for laborers. Below Jaeson Ma shares a bit of the 10:2b history:

USA: the Luke 10:2b virus breaks outSomething very special happened when house church coach John White and Kenny Moore, Southern Baptist Director of Church Planting for the State of Colorado, had breakfast together on October 2, 2002. Both have a passion to see Colorado covered with living expressions of the Body of Christ. While lingering over the last cup of coffee for the morning, their thoughts were turned to the ninth and tenth chapters of Luke. They observed that this waswhere the Lord was really shifting gears, where the foundation was laid for all that would follow till the end of the age. Up to this point, the Lord was doing the ministry. Now he was sending out the 12 (Luke 9:1-6) and then the 72 others (Luke 10:1).

"Now there were 42 two-man teams to establish the presence of Christ 'to plant churches' everywhere," writes Jim Montgomery, a respected missionary and publisher of The Great Commission Update. "I would have been ecstatic," says John White, "if I had 42 church-planting teams for the state of Colorado. But what Jesus was saying really astounded us. 'The fields are ripe but these 42 teams are so few.'" The harvest is not the problem. Thecritical missing component is an adequate number of harvest workers. How do we get enough apostolic church planters? Luke 10:2b says to do one thing:ask the Lord of the harvest for them. John and Kenny covenanted with each other to pray this "10:2b" prayer together every day possible from that moment on. So every day either John would call Kenny or Kenny would call John to pray. If they didn't connect, they would leave their prayer on voice mail.

800 days later
In the following 30 months, they have followed through on this pledge about 700 or 800 times, saying "God, here we are again, John and Kenny, pleading for more harvest workers for Colorado, just like every day." "Regular prayer, like the poor widow in Luke 18," says White, "can and should become a healthy, regular and hence relentless intercession." Kenny and John started inviting others to do the same, regularly praying the 10:2b prayer in teams. There are now between 200 and 300 people praying 10:2b with a partner virtually every day. The 10:2b virus is spreading!

Amazing results
"And the results have been amazing," says White. "We're to the point where we get a phone call or e-mail almost every day from someone saying something like this: 'It?s in my heart to plant a (house or simple) church. How do I do that? Can you help me?'" Kenny Moore used to get six or eight people over the course of six months who would indicate a desire to start a new church. He now has a steady stream of inquiries, and there have been around 100 Southern Baptist Churches established in Colorado alone from the time he and White began praying 10:2b together.

Tim Pynes had been on the staff of a large, post-modern church in Denver. With so many programs in this mega-facility, Pynes found he had merely turned into a project manager. "This is not what I signed up for," he told White. "I want to invest in the lives of people." He left the megachurch and started meeting White. He now has a growing network of 8 house churches in Denver. Guy Muse, a Southern Baptist missionary in Ecuador, has been encouraging all of his house church people to pray the10:2b prayer on a daily basis since May of 2004. "In that month of May alone, 30 newcongregations were established," he reports.

"Cast out", not "send forth"
The Greek word for "send forth" in Luke 10:2b, ekballein, was a very forceful, almost violent, term. It is the word used when casting out a demon, for example. White and Moore realised that they should not pray for potential labourers who may be interested, but for highly-motivated people who God had taken and, as only he can, placed with gentle force in the harvest. It seems to work
...Source: Jim Montgomery and John White, DenverWH@aol.com --- Jaeson Ma's Blog
Categories: God, Movements, SimpleChurch

This is going to be real good!

There is a movie coming out soon called End of Spear. It is the story of Jim Elliot and Nate Saint, who were killed by the Auca Indians about 50 years ago. You should read more or watch a trailer from Andy McCullough's blog End of Spear.
Categories: Missions

New Photo Log

Just wanted to point you to a sidebar link I just created for all our family photos. Check out VanDiestPhotos.
Categories: Photos

ABC comfirms why we do what we do

Recently ABC did a great report on Faith on Campus. It just reminded me how much we need to reach out to the thousands of college students looking for answers, acceptance and new values for life. Check out Faith on Campus. You can also read more at Are Students Losing their Religion on Campus?
Categories: God

Thoughts of why God is calling us to Mexico City

There are many things that God has aligned to bring us to Mexico City this coming fall. The great size of the city, the Spirit moving in our hearts, the potential of one of the largest cities in the world seeing supernatural growth and expansion of the Gospel and also the vision of where we are going and the discontent of what we have done, as expressed by the National Campus Director of Mexico, Steve Morgan.

Steve says it well in Can we be content with incremental growth?

Categories: MexicoCity, Movements

Photos from November

Categories: photos

Yeah, It really worked

Some of you may have been wondering about that stupid free ipod link to the right. Well to let you all in on a secret. Two days ago I received my free black 30G video ipod. Oops I lied, it cost me $1. I too was an unbeliever before, now I have been converted to believing there are cool things in life for virtually free.

Great words from John White - House Church Coach

About two months ago I bumped into John White, Dawn Ministries Denver, and I began getting some of his coaching emails about house church. I had to cut and paste the most recent one as it just provides simple yet compelling thoughts on church.

Dear Church,
The concept of "prevenience" was at the foundation of Jesus' ministry. ("Prevenience": referring to that which goes before or precedes)

He said, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." (Jn. 5:19)

"... I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me." (Jn. 8:28)
"For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it." (Jn. 12:49)

Jesus, the very Son of God, did nothing (zero/nada) on his own initiative. He spoke nothing on His own initiative. The Father initiated, Jesus responded. Jesus believed that His Father was prevenient. Every healing, every miracle, every teaching was initiated by the Father and carried out by Jesus.

His entire plan consisted of this:

1. See what the Father is doing and do that.
2. Hear what the Father is saying and say that.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

The "program model" assumes that the Prevenient Creator (who never made two snow flakes alike) will always follow the same format when His children come together. This model requires that we do the planning. We develop the agenda. Then, we ask God to bless it. This model results in church that is usually orderly (by our definition) but also often sterile.

The "prevenience model" assumes only that the Prevenient Creator is already at work before His children gather for church. This model requires that we see/hear what the Father is doing/saying and then ask Him how we are to respond. We surrender our agenda and look for His. This model results in church that is sometimes messy (by our definition) but also often exhilaratingly alive and fruitful.

Returning to the New Testament model of church does not just mean "doing church" in a house. It also means returning to the reality of Jesus being both present and prevenient.

He is no longer the passive "honored guest" for whom we perform.
He is "the Master of ceremonies".

He runs the show. He sets the agenda.
And, that changes everything.
John

John WhiteHouse Church CoachDenver, CO.Website: http://www.dawnministries.org/globalministries/north%20america.htm Blog: http://housechurchchronicles.com

Praying Luke 10:2b

Every believer a church planter.

Every home a church.

Every church building a training center.

I survived - I'm not dying

This past Sunday Jonathan walked into my bedroom, looked at me and proclaimed, "Mom, dad is dying!" I was deathly ill. I think for the first time I experienced the horrible thing called strep throat. Saturday morning after arriving back from a wonderful week with family and friends in So.Cal. I woke up with pain in my neck, throat and head. I survived being out of bed until about 10am and then laid and writhed in pain in bed until about 5pm. What a day; a day planned for hanging up Christmas lights and decoration but ended up in bed.

Sunday morning Christine told me I must see a Dr. if it was the same. Well it was worse. I thought I was going to die, so maybe Jonathan was right. Finally after our wonderful family Dr. responded on call from Church and called in my meds and sent me to the lab (yes I had strep) I was beginning to be healed. That day I made it out of bed around 4pm. The saddest part of Sunday was it was Benjamin's 5th birthday. He was extremely gracious and we're having another party on Saturday. I finally made it back to work on Tues, battling lingering affects of a damaged throat. What a journey.

In all of it Christine was the wonderful, gracious, serving wife. Wow, she made the house run, took care of a 230 lb. whining husband. And at this point the Lord spared the rest of the family from the pain.

Monday afternoon after no longer being contagious I played with Isa. She makes my world turn upside down. I was playing ball with her on the hardwood floors (I'm still learning how to play with a girl) and then started reading a book while laying on my stomach. She would crawl over my arms and then sit right in front of my head and lean back and look at me with a smile. I'm toast. She has got me all wrapped up. I never never knew how much a little girl would change my world.

So, I'm not dying. Good news for me and hopefully a handful of others. I'm loving this week, ministry, staff, students, and about to get home and pull out the Christmas stuff and enjoy the family.

What makes 100%? - Beware of some sensitive language!

I questioned if I should send this along but it is just too funny and it applies to leading my team. Anyways it came from my mom. So it must be okay.

What makes 100%?
What does it mean to give More than 100%?
Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%. How about achieving 103%? What makes up 100% in life?

Here's a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions:
If:
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

Then:
H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11=98%

and
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5=96%

But,
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5=100%

and,
B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T
2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20=103%

And look how far ass kissing will take you:
A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G
1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14=127%

So one can conclude with mathematical certainty that while Hardwork and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, it's the Bullshit and Asskissing that will put your over the top!

Planting Movements is what we're all about

The past year we have really begun to focus our leadership efforts within our ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ at CU Boulder and beyond. Most of where we are landing is in the concepts of planting new movements/churches.

A few of the things I have read recently that give a small glimpse of what we're trying to do is found at
Missionary Training strategy Leads to Thousands of New Churches
Turning 30 into 100,000
Fuelmovements blog

All of this and my recent trip to Mexico City has led us to some changes. We feel God is calling us to something sweet and big. We're heading down to Mexico City this coming Aug/Sept to help give leadership to reaching the 28 million or so people in Mexico City. We're excited about the call God has placed on our hearts and we're even more excited about the ways He will glorify Himself there.

We believe God is calling us to something new and special in Mexico City. From the words of our National Director Agustin, "If we continue in ministry, church the same way, it will take us 400 years to reach the whole city." This is why we're moving. We want to listen to the Spirit and lead in such a way, partnering with churches, ministries and the such so that the whole city can experience a revival; so every person can be reached with the message of the Gospel.

We're praying now that every pocket of the city would have a church, a movement, would have a spiritual multiplying group that will impact every nook and cranny of the city. Join with us if God is calling you to go for it here.

Childlike Faith

This past week I was sitting at breakfast with Jonathan and I was talking to him about my trip to Mexico, the city, the people, etc. I threw this question out there to him, "Jonathan, what do you think about moving to Mexico?"

He responded, "I don't want to move to Mexico, I like it here in Colorado." He paused for a moment and then responded sincerely, "But if God says move, then we need to move."

Wow, I was struck by his obedience and bold faith. It is a challenge to believe and live like a child. Simple: Follow God in what he says.

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Mk 10:14-15

Contagious Disease strikes Christians!

Outbreak Detected
It's spreading.
Emergency rooms throughout western Europe, Australia and the U.S. have been inundated over the weekend with persons afflicted with what is believed to be a life-changing cardio-cerebral disorder. At the time of this writing, public health officials remain somewhat baffled. Although current details are sketchy, the only common demographic characteristic identified among the afflicted is that all claim to be of the Christian faith. Based upon this fact, the following is hereby communicated to the public:

See more in Contagious Disease strikes Christians!

An Interview worth the read

In our ministry blog Fuel Movements I post an excellent interview with Neil Cole, author of Organic Church.

If you haven't read the book, it is a must read. To get a teaser check out the Interview in Next Wave

Categories: Books

Booh Mainstream Media

You know the mainstream media is biased when you see articles/stats like this.
Hmm. This seems to go against what I tell my kids daily. Read, read, read.

A Special Anointing

I drove into the driveway last night from my time in Mexico and I noticed our house had a special anointing.

Made it Home

Our trip ended wonderfully. God put many things on my heart and it has been an adventure to bring those before Him and share them with Christine and the kids. It is so good to be home. I actually lucked out and jumped on an earlier flight out of Chicago (why did we fly from Mexico to Chicago: that's another story.) That earlier flight got me home around 11pm instead of 1am. Yeah.

I went into Isa's room and then the boys. It was so good to look at them and just see them sleeping peacefully. Oh the blessings of these kids.

Today, a day of rest and catching up, processing Mexico and getting ready for another trip next Friday. I'm officiating a good friends wedding in LosAngeles. Traveling again, but this trip is with the whole family and we'll be able to spend some time with my family during Thanksgiving. Yeah.

Wrapping it up in Mexico

We're staying in the Radisson in Mexico City; very nice place. Yesterday we actually stayed here in the lobby wrap some of our discussions and dreams for this mega city. What we're part of is City Reach. How can we as CCC give leadership to the mega cities of the world so that God does something amazing. We're not talking about incremental growth over 10 years but a rapid infussion of God's spirit that will awaken these cities. It is captivating to talk and pray for Mexico City and see what God could do. We ended up giving a bit of a plan before the launch date of Sept 1, 2006. We need a learning leading team to oversee all the teams, pastors, ministries that will take part of this effort.

Then to my surprise we headed to some neighborhoods to see what family living could look like. It actually could work for a family if a few of the logistics are solved. The biggest element to see something like this work for a family is if it is God's will then it will be just fine.

After visiting some neighborhoods we headed off to the Zocolo (the center of town.) We met the stint teams and the rest of our crew and headed up to the coolest tower in the city. You could see all of it from the 46th floor. Wow. I was impressed as we read Isaiah 40 while we were up there and then prayed. I was struck by how large this city is yet I'm even more encouraged by the God I love and serve is larger, more powerful and holds this massive place in his hands. God is good and is going to do an amazing thing here. It's going to take a super mobile, rapid changing, God responding leadership team to partner with all the different aspects of reaching this city. This is exactly what God can do and will do. Not wait on human efforts that see predictable, incremental growth over a 10-20 year period, but something supernatural.

We ended the night in great festive Mexican style. We landed in a restaurant with huge mariachi bands; some of the best I have ever heard. Wow, what an experience.

I'm grateful for my time here. There's something going on around the world. I don't want to miss it. I want to live radical faith. We'll see what God has in store.

Segundo Dia en Mexico

Day number two for those of the English decent. We started off with a relaxing morning at the Villa Florida Hotel. Felt a little like I was at the Holiday Inn but nicer. Then we went on a city wide open air bus tour. Pretty city, big and lots of people who don't yet know the Lord. It's funny how at times we work on Mexican time (when ever you get there) but then we're rushed to make a bus that wasn't operating on Mexican time. We grabbed a quick lunch (Dominoes: gross) as we ran onto the bus.

We arrived in the slightly larger city, Mexico City (about 30 million people), bolted to a coffee shop to meet with some pastors, ministry leaders and students in our own ministry (Vida Estudiantil). We shared our vision of reaching every student in every faculty (department). This has to be about 1 million students. Ouch. At first the questions and comments were centered around details, how are we to make this happen, who's in charge, etc. But then you could see the Spirit move through a comment by Hector. Hector is a young Spirit filled pastor who was called into ministry two years ago and is seeing great things happen organically through his church. His small church is sending couples to other parts of the city, to New Zealand and other parts of Mexico. They are a non denominational church all about raising up leaders quickly to reach the world. He was sharing with me how God gave him a heart for the nations and how he doesn't want to be about making a big church. What a leader. His vision, passion and desire to partner with the other groups was contagious. The conversation/discussion was left with anticipation and excitement.

We then left to a place I call heaven. Jason, the local Mexico City team leader, took me to a street vender that sold 5 tacos al pastor for $1. Light me up. I think I ate 7 of them. The meat came from a stick, covered in lime juice, cilantro and standing on the streets of the largest city in the world. There is nothing better.

Then just as if I was taken up to the 3rd heaven, we entered a little market area with about 10 different little kiosks that made their own genre of Mexican food. My eyes began to buldge out of my skull and I ordered a sopa de pollo. A thick, puffy tortilla covered with beans, chicken, cabbage, Oaxacan Cheese (2nd best in the world behind Manchego de Espana) and red salsa. I had a small out of body experience. Then I was encouraged to order some flautas, deep fried on the spot. Oh the choices were beef, chicken and potatoes and Chorizo. I'll take one of each. I then just died and gone to heaven.

Then we walked over to a cool coffee shop that sold donuts and made a great capachino. This place was filled with young people and tons of college students. Immediately I thought this is a great place to start a movement or church. I was hanging out with Keith (national WSN director) and Andy (Regional WSN director) and they initiated a conversation with two young men (Alberto and Ivan.) They asked about Frida, the Mexican artist. She used to live in this barrio. It was cool as I leaned over to sneak into this conversation, Keith was sharing in English his testimony, how Christ touched his life and briefly why were in Mexico. Ivan was already a Christian and in his own heart he had accepted Christ. He told us that Alberto needed to pray to receive Christ. I jumped in with my bad Spanish and began to ask what Alberto's hang ups were. He said he had issues with the church and religion but he believed in God, Jesus, problem of sin and what Christ did for him. He virtually explained he believed in Christ. Earlier Alberto expressed maybe he would know Christ in this way in the future. Keith quickly said, "Maybe Tomorrow." Alberto responded, "Maybe Tonight." It was a God moment.

They asked what we were doing here and I shared our vision of raising up a network of students who reach other students and plant churches all over the city. Alberto also shared with us that he didn't have a job for a year. Andy at the Holy Spirit led perfect moment asked if we could pray for Alberto and Ivan. We talked some more and then had to say good bye. We hooked up Ivan and Alberto (non university students but appointed by the Spirit to talk to us) with Jason the local leader. Alberto thanked us for sharing, talking and praying for him. Then he said he wished us well in our accomplishing our vision. I told him thanks and maybe he would be part of the solution; that he would come to Christ and then share with family members, students and co workers. He said maybe.

I truly believe that God did something amazing here on the streets of Mexico City. I really believe that we may never see the results but I believe God will start a movement through Ivan and Alberto.

This is what Stine and I have been praying for. That God will bring us into groups of people that are ready to hear the message, come to Christ and they will in turn be the immediate multipliers of the Gospel and church planters.

What a day, what a night!

1st Day in Mexico

This morning we started off our day with Starbucks in Puebla (about 2 hours south east of D.F.). Hmm, Mexico and Starbucks. They have truly figured out how to integrate into a culture and take over.

We gathered and began hearing about history of CCC in Mexico and current dreams of what we would love to see happen here in Mexico City and beyond. A great morning of realizing that if we don't change the way doing things here in Mexico city it would take 400 years to reach the whole scope, about 1 million college students.

The group gathered here is real top shelf; Augustine (National Mexico Director), Steve and Terry Morgan (National Campus Director of Mexico), Jason, Kathy, Alice, Dan and Deane (American living and serving in D.F. and Puebla), Keith (national WSN director), Allan and Karin (WSN orlando), Ken and Andy (Great Plains WSN directors), and Craig (Nebraska state director.) All together it is a group with experience from all over the world, China, Paris, Latin American and beyond. Their passion and innovation to get to each and every student is contagious.

Then after our high powered meeting we headed for the hotel roof for a great Cornelius (Acts) prayer time. We prayed for the city and got sunburned all in one hour.

One of the largest revelations was the Puebla has a costco. Then sad to my stomach we ventured to TGIF's for lunch. All the way to Mexico to get a burger and Fries. Booh.

Then off to the center for some shopping. You'll see in the future some great shots of Isa in this great little dress I bought her. Then we headed to Steve and Terry's to brainstorm and discuss more what will be needed to launch this new ministry to hit all of D.F.:Launch date=Sept 1, 2006. I believe a large dose of intentional prayer, the right leadership team, correct thinking and training, and decoding the city. Oh yeah, let's not forget a supernatural act of God. It is exciting to see that even though we talk about all the right techniques and strategies we believe it will take a movement of God.

Now I'm off to see my fantasy football teams go for the win.

Off To Mexico City

Today I am heading out to Mexico City, Mexico to put some heads together to figure out, pray, seek the Lord's direction on how to reach the millions of college students there. It's a worthy discussion because if we continue in ministry with the same efforts and strategies it will take us hundreds of years to reach each and every student. I really do believe there is a new wine skin, a new method of doing church/ministry, a new wave of spiritual blessing that we have not encountered before.

This same anticipation is what I am sensing for our same university in Boulder. We have talked as a staff team and student leaders that if we continue with the same efforts in weekly meetings, bible studies, community groups, and outreaches we would never reach the campus or see something supernatural happen. We must bust out and try something new, trust God in new ways, go out believing by faith that God will do something special.

Some may ask, what if it doesn't work? What if God doesn't respond with a supernatural blessing that impacts each and every student in a way that can only be attributed to God? What if we go out and try to reach the lost and nothing really changes? My answer would be to ask the simple question. What happens if we don't try? What happens if we just continue doing ministry/church the same way?

I believe we'll burn out, get tired, do the same thing year after year with little or no growth. I believe that we'll see good things happen and students will grow but we won't see a supernatural pouring out of God's blessing.

That's why we're having discussions like this. That's why I'm going to Mexico City this week. This is why Christine's and my heart are alive with passion and expectancy. That is why we want to go for it.

We believe that God has so much in store for believers, our campuses, our cities if we just get out and try new things. If we make our prayers, strategies and efforts about reaching the lost and not building a good Christian program.

Join with us in praying that God will reveal to us what we should do and how we should do it. This has become our desire and norm. Pray for God's direction and then do it.

From November 14 -18 our ministry at CU is trying a mission week with the desire that this type of week will become our normal week. I'll tell you more about later as I got to get in the shower and on an airplane.

Halloween Fun

Last night was Isa's first halloween. She didn't eat much candy but the boys brought in a dump load. There goes my weight loss plan.

God has been good to the Van Diest Family lately. The kids are such fun and growing a ton. I think I have been healed from my 5 week cold but now Benjamin is on his last few days of pink eye, Isa is just getting healthy and now Jonathan and Christine have colds. Oh what fun. Pray that we're healthy as I leave to Mexico City this Sunday and Stine leaves with Isa for a Mom's retreat. We thought of just leaving the boys with Aspen, our dog, at home. They should be good. :)

The kids as you can see at Van Diest Photo Album are so cute. Check out the site for new pictures.

Is this God TV?

"Is this God tv?" was asked by Benjamin as we watched ABC's Extreme Makeover Home edition on Sunday night. Our family has created a short tradition, so far, every Sunday night. We Tivo (saved my life) the show and then sit down and watch it with the boys. We talk about the call of God to be a blessing to others, help them in their difficulties and what it means to share the love of God. Jonathan told me this past week that he loved watching this show. I agree with him as I sit there with tears in my eyes to see the combined unity of the community and local companies to working toward a common goal: love, care and meet the physical needs of others.

What would happen if every church took on the role of uniting the community to help love, care and meet the physical needs of others? I would imagine that the world would see Christ in a different light. I would imagine church would be a whole different experience for the not-yet-Christians.

"Is this God TV?" We keep telling the boys, yep, they are doing the work of God.

MM: Mack Multiplying

This past week I have been gone for most of the week at a campus director's conference. It was a great time of connecting with some friends, dreaming, praying and hearing about multiple movements. Speaking of multiple movements; the food wasn't that great.

On Thursday I was back in town and had a great chance to meet with Mack Brown again, the freshman redshirt QB at CU. My prayer all week had been that Mack would be experiencing God and sensing God's call for him to reach others. I headed back to Dal Ward athletic center for lunch with Mack. We jumped in line and I was introduced to Devon, a fellow redshirt freshman Tight End. We asked Devon to join us for lunch at our table.

Mack and my plan was to eat lunch and talk about what we learned in the One year bible. God had other plans. We started talking to Devon about spirituality and a relationship with God. During the conversation I would ask Mack what he thought, his experiences with knowing God. You got to know that Mack has only been a Christian for 8 days at this point. But why not start teaching him what it really means to be a Christian; we talk to others about Christ.

Mack was definitely used by God. He shared what it really meant to know God, what God valued in coming to salvation and what he thought before coming to know God. Devon was searching. Devon expressed a desire to know God through Christ. Mack and I left him a Gospel track to read and I told him to talk to Mack about this stuff; for Mack is an expert on knowing God at this point. Devon left and thanked us and told us he wanted to talk again.

Mack and I then turned to the one year bible reading. He told me he started in January therefore he read Gen 12:1-4 or so. We turned there and read it again and I asked him what God promised to Abram and commanded him to do. I asked Mack why God would bless Abram or us. Mack responded, "to bless others." We talked about the story line of the Bible, how Gen. 12 is the starting point of God drawing mankind all back to himself, our role in being God's witness to bless others. I tried to paint a picture that Mack too could be a spiritual father, like Abram, to all the other athletes. He was getting multiplication and the Great Commission and he has only been a Christian for 8 days. Very cool.

I asked him about his roommate Paul, another redshirt freshman. "Is he spiritually interested?" Mack wasn't sure so I proposed that we pray for him for 7 days; that God will draw Paul to a relationship with Himself. Mack responded, "I'll talk to him too."

The Spirit is alive. God is already moving in Mack. He is already sensing a vision and call in his life to be a blessing to others. I really do believe that God is doing something special here. I believe and trust God that many, not just a few, but many players will come to know Jesus. It starts with a not-yet-Christian coming to know God and the spirit taking off to impact others.

Continued.......

St. Malos

I'm up in St. Malos retreat center outside of Estes Park, CO for the CCC Great Plains Int'l region's director's conference. More than any new knowledge learned is the great camaraderie of leaders and followers of Christ that are brought together. It's the late night discussions about the power of God in our lives, arguing and dreaming about what is church and what is effective ministry and just having fun. Yesterday we golfed in Estes Park. It was awesome, yes in late October it was sunny and beautiful. On the course we were blessed to see over 300 elk roaming around the course. It was good for my soul to herd elk with our golf cart. It felt like a modern version of City Slickers. I also have to confess I hit an elk with a golf ball, going about 100 miles/hour about 75 yards out right on the neck. No, I don't have a freezer full of elk meat because she just looked at me and went back to eating grass. Hmm.

Today we had Jaeson Ma (Campus Church Networks) stir our hearts and minds about the work of Christ around the world as he and others see Church Planting Movements transform lives and cities. I have been reading about Jaeson's ministry and am excited he will be basing his work and ministry out of Long Beach, CA, home of our new Long Beach summer project next summer. His passion to see God move like we have seen in Acts in contagious. I too want to believe that God can and will move supernaturally, exponentially, wildly in our country, on our campuses and in our lives. I'm super excited to be partnering with him and Brad Fieldhouse next summer in planting new church/communities of faith in Long Beach. I have to believe there are 1,000's of not-yet-Christians who are waiting to meet the person of Jesus and see that take over their lives, relationships, families and neighborhoods. I believe this can and will happen in Long Beach, in my own neighborhood in Superior, CO and on our campus (CU Boulder.)

Today was a reminder to me of the power of the movement of God through His Spirit, His desire to transform hearts and minds through Jesus Christ and the spontaneous expansion of the Church. I'm ready to see something new. I'm ready to lead my staff and students to experience something we have never experienced before in our lifetime or on our campus. I'm ready to see God really touch and transform lives, quickly, powerfully, and deeply.

A great new resource

I came across Steve Addison's blog. Excellent thoughts on movements and church planting.

You've got to check it out:
http://www.steveaddison.net/

Going to Long Beach

You guessed it and as you expected, if you prayed, God is bringing us to Long Beach, CA next summer. This past week the director of the Beach Plaza Hotel (corner of Ocean Ave and Cherry) called and agreed to a great price for us staying at his hotel next summer. So, yes, the Long Beach Campus Crusade Project is official. We are so excited for all that God has done to orchestrate the events and vision to this point. We are excited for what God will do in the lives of the staff and students we are taking there but even more excited for the work that will happen in trusting God to plant organic spiritual movements all over Long Beach. Continue to pray that God will go before us, show us where and who we should spend our time with and that we will listen.

The amazing thing about talking with the director, Woody, is that I asked him if our price included taxes and he said no. I mentioned I will have to raise some additional finances to make the budget happen and immediately he cut us a $1,000 discount off his already low price. His next question was if our students had already found jobs for the summer. I told him we didn't even have student applied yet. He asked "when they do, could they work for some of our companies in Long Beach?" Isn't that amazing. The two things I have been trusting God for (housing and jobs) are being taken care of immediately.

I look forward to the relationship that will be built with woody, his staff and I pray that we will be a blessing to their hotel. Thanks for your prayers. If you live in CA, we look forward to hanging with you and building God's kingdom in your backyard.

Mack Brown at CU

Mack Brown. Now if you're a football fan and follow college sports you'll know that name as the head coach of University of Texas, Austin. Yes, sadly, Mack Brown led his longhorns to victory over the CU Buffaloes this past week. That's okay because we have a Mack Brown as well at CU. Mack Brown is a redshirt freshman QB at CU.

I have been praying and asking God to raise up a spiritual movement within the athletic department for sometime and I give some resources, encouragement and coaching to the athletic bible study run by one of the coaches, Greg. But I also wanted to see God move in the hearts and minds of those who are not-yet-Christians.

So what I have been doing is just showing up at their dining hall to eat once or twice a week and see what God has in store. To be honest it is better food than the other dining halls on campus.

Three weeks ago I prayed God would give me someone to talk to, meet and encourage. I went into the hall with no plan except to see God move. I was eating my fajita tortilla wrap, very yummy, and munching on my fries all while sitting next to a quiet guy. I prayed silently and struck up a conversation with Mack, yes Mack Brown is his name. We talked about being a frosh, being a redshirt, being away from home and then eventually we started talking spirituality and Jesus. He was lonely, looking for relationships and really looking for the Lord. I shared about how he could know God through Jesus and he expressed an interest to doing that.

Then the cook, Marvin a strong Christian, and his aide, Kyle, came up and starting talking. It was sort of an interruption but I wanted to take things in stride and that God has orchestrated that. But in the midst of that Mack had to go to class. I gave him my number and something to read. He left. It was God's way of saying, "Steve this isn't about you. This is about me drawing Mack to myself." I told some other Christian players and coaches to talk to him and see if he wanted to talk more about God. I emailed Mack but got no response the following week.

So I continued on my plan of eating alone in the dining hall. This past week I walked in and out walked Mack. He apologized for not calling back but then expressed he wanted to talk more. We scheduled a lunch for the following day, this past Wednesday. I showed up early, talked to a few Christian players and coaches and ask them to pray for Mack who I was to be meeting in a few minutes. The lunch and hour spent with Mack this past Wednesday was all about God orchestrating the events and conversation. We spent our time talking about Jesus, God, salvation all in the midst of another player, Jason, a linebacker who is a Christian. Jason shared his testimony and perspective of walking with Jesus. Right there Mack prayed to ask Jesus into his heart, forgive his sins and begin a relationship with God.

Within 15 minutes following his becoming a Christian God brought in other Christian players and coaches into Mack's life to encourage and give high fives. He expressed in faith in Christ and now was known to be a Christian to his peers and coaches. One other player, a receiver Dusty, even expressed a desire to meet with Mack and me to read the bible and talk about it weekly. Mack wants to be part of that.

What are we going to do from here? We're going to trust that Mack gets Jesus, shares Christ with others and grows in his new found relationship with God. Why should we expect anything else than immediate life change and impact on his sphere of relationships? God supernaturally did all he could to draw Mack to himself why wouldn't he supernaturally use Mack now to impact others?

It's real life change. It's real miracles. It's because God is real!

Get a Free Ipod. it really works

It took some convincing but when the free ipod showed up in one of my staff's, Amy, hands I was convinced. If you follow this link: Free ipod, join one of the cheesy offers (then cancel if it is not needed), refer 5 friends (not a lot). Then it took about a 1 week after that and she had a new nano.

Let me know if you're interested.

I think I feel this revolution

The past couple of years working with students and leading a Christian ministry I have felt some of what is expressed in this take about George Barna's book Revolution. Shane Deike shares this excellent article on the state of the Church in Revolution: George Barna

Categories: Books

Learning to Wait

It has been 4 days since I left Calif to start the Long Beach Summer Project. I left an offer to the owners of a perfect place for housing. I have heard rumors from the hotel manager that the price is too low but I am still waiting on the Lord to bless this hotel location for our project. I want to jump in, wheel and deal, force the issue through. But at the same time I want to see God work and bring glory to His name.

So what in the world do I have planned to make this location work? I want to talk to the owners personally and see what it will take financially and relationally to get a contract for the hotel. I'm praying each day, as many of you are as well, that God will find us a price that will work.

All in all waiting is no fun, but I want this to be about God leading, not me.

Thinking about NCAA movements

I have been reading Neil Cole's book: Organic Church recently and he writes about the key elements of every group that multiplies is the DNA of a group. I have been thinking, how can we take some of this teaching and put it into a language of our college/university language. After tweaking some letters and thinking I am using NCAA. The following was posted on our ministry blog fuelmovements:

NCAA (college) Multiple Movements

I want to challenge this week as you think of your groups/ministry/movement (whatever you call it) to think/evaluate in these terms.

NCAA
N: Nurturing Relationships
C: Christ Centered
A: Authority based on God’s Truth
A: Apostolic Mission
(Adapted and tweaked from Neil Cole’s DNA in Organic Church: Growing faith where life happens)

I believe that in order for our groups to multiply, reach the campus, grow students to a deeper level with God we must aim to have these four elements as part of our group dynamics. If you miss one, focus on 3, don’t like one, then you will be a group that becomes self focused, fellowship orientated, disgruntled, lacking focus, and purpose.

• Nurturing Relationships: Does your group value growth, authenticity, accountability, love and service to those in your group and to those outside? Is true discipleship (not counseling) happening within group members?
• Christ Centered: This is the core of why we exist as groups. It needs to be about Christ, His message of redemption, and us becoming like Him. All elements need to be about the presence of Jesus in our lives and in our group. Are we being Christ to the community around us?
• Authority based on God’s truth: What is God’s truth? Truth comes from God’s word, the Spirit’s direction and leading. All we do and say is based on what God has to say, not our preferences, desires, or traditions. Who is the authority in your group?
• Apostolic Mission: Why do we exist? Are we a fellowship group gathering Christians for growth and security? Are we living, existing, growing to reach the lost and not yet Christians around us? We live to seek and to save the lost. It is about God’s Kingdom work. Are we going outside of our group to show the love, care and service of Christ?
  

We’ll be talking (this article comes from a letter I send to our student leaders each week) more about these four areas in the year to come. In the mean time talk to Jesus about them, spend some time with your co-leaders and with your disciples. Make changes, pray for a heart that seeks what God has in store for us, and ask the Spirit to give us power to be what He wants us to be. You will be the best people to lead us in the charge to be the NCAA (college) multiple movements that will reach every student in every nook and cranny on campus and around the world.

Drop me your thoughts and ideas about the four areas. I love hearing from you and hearing what God has placed on your heart.

Categories: Books

Days and Nights in California

Monday I arrived in So. Cal. With the goal of securing housing and jobs for a new summer project. Unlike me I really didn't have a plan other than pray, wait on the Lord, and go looking. It was a great start to a long day. I headed down to Long Beach, (Belmont Shores) where my sister lives. I stopped by her place to pick up the phat map book, Thomas Guide, a need and Bible like guide for those that navigate the urban jungle of So. Cal.

A few months ago a friend told me about Long Beach's urban redevelopment. So I headed down to the Pike Area (shops and entertainment by the Queen Mary: www.shopthepike.com). I was blown away with the development, fun shops and beautiful scenery. I flipped a U turn and headed down south the coast to Seal Beach and Sunset beach with the hopes and dreams of finding a cool motel/hotel that will fit our needs for a summer project. Right after my U turn I pulled into the aqua blue motel: Beach Plaza Hotel. I met Enrique, the manager, and he took me around to the cool units with kitchens, surrounding a puddle sized pool, along the bluffs and the coast. This was perfect. I tried not to show my hand I was dealt and I told him I would stop by again if it worked out.

I was so thankful for the way the day started. I had hope that something like this could be found in the beach area. I then spent the next 3-4 hours walking into hotel/motels along the beach to find all they had was a bed and a sink. Nothing was fitting what we needed. I ended my day with a drive back up to Long Beach to see what the night/street atmosphere had in store around the Beach Plaza Hotel. People strolling, walking dogs, holding hands, cafes and safety. Could this be the place.

Tues morning I headed back to the Hotel to spend some time building a relationship with Enrique. If this works out, he would be the guy we work with and interact about housing. I got to know him, his life, spiritual interest and we talked about financial numbers. I took him to lunch and we punched out some numbers that would work for us and him. The next hurdle to leap over was having him sell this to the owners. Immediately after our lunch he met with Woody, the owners rep. That's where we stand now. Waiting, praying, trusting God that this will be the place to start our project.

It has been great to see God orchestrate this relationship, hotel, and vision for reaching Long Beach. Later Tues afternoon I spent some time with Brad Fieldhouse, "simple/organic church" planter in Long Beach. It is ironic and cool that Brad and I went to High School together. We talked and prayed about what God is doing in the city and how we can help him and his Crossroads (his simple church network in LB) groups reach new areas, plant churches and build the Kingdom in LB. I am super encouraged by the work God is doing in So. Cal. and I pray that we'll be able to jump into what He is already doing.

Waiting, trusting, responding. That's what I'm up to today. We'll stop by again to see if the Beach Plaza Hotel will have us. I'm also scouring the streets, plazas and malls of LB for job possibilities for our students. All in all the faith adventure of being here, trying new things, and believing in God for results has been refreshing. This is where I want to be daily; risk, going, trusting, waiting and listening.

They Did Come Up

From my previous post I shared my struggle with my family staying down the mountain and not staying with me up at our conference. After a Saturday morning of highly successful soccer games by both boys (Jonathan scored 1 goal and Benjamin scored 2), my family joined me up in Keystone. It was a great treat to have the afternoon walking around with them, playing, paddle boats and just laughing. It was refreshing to my soul (it needed some refreshment after the buffs got a beating from Miami.)

Isa experienced her first swing set ride. See attached.

It was a great weekend. My family was there for a short time and our students connected with the Lord and with each other.

I was most encouraged by our last night with students. I led a discussion about where we are as a ministry, what our leadership looked liked and how students can lead and own the movement. We opened up the floor for discussion about students leading students and it was awesome. They responded, rallied together and are taking the lead this coming week. Students are going to be meeting sometime this week to deal with the question, "How can we as Fuel better reach the campus with God's love?" I'm seeing the students grab it and get it. It's not just about fellowship but it is fellowship with God and others to be a light to the world.

We're back home, resting, playing, watching some football and hoping my fantasy teams do bit better. We'll I'm not sure the rest of the family cares about my teams.

Miracle Needed in California this year

This past week Christine and I were given the green light to attempt to start a summer mission project with CCC in Southern California. About 7 years ago God put it on my heart to start a beach mission project to Huntington Beach. With some effort and, to be honest, too little prayer that dream didn't get off the ground. My hope and prayer is that now, a few years later, a greater dependence on God and with new vision we will be able to start up a project to Seal/Sunset Beach California.

Why here? This area was home for me for about 23 years. This is the place that some of my childhood experiences were made. These are the places I first learned to body surf and boogie board. These are the places that I remember having late night bon fires. When I think about California I think about these places, the beach.

Now the miracle needed in the next couple of weeks is the job of securing housing for our summer project. 30 students and about 10 staff need housing in Southern California, on the beach, and oh yeah, did I mention economical housing. Come on, we are Christian missionaries.

I have been wrestling with the Lord these past few weeks, pleading with Him, begging Him that something will surface. Oct 3-6 I'm heading to California to see what God will surface. In my flesh and Steve centric world I'm fearful, skeptical and scared this won't work. Then in those moments of glory, I trust God and believe He will do something amazing.

That's where I am this morning. A miracle is needed and a miracle will happen. Housing: near the beach, economical, perfect and simple.

Why do a mission project? Something happens when you get college students together, on the beach with a purpose of meeting God and making Him known. Life change, a clearer picture of God, a deeper intimacy with Him and a vision for How God will use them in community in the Kingdom. That's our desire. Show these college students God's love and heart for the not-yet-Christians. We are praying that we'll be able to surface new spiritual movements at Long Beach State and partner with the church planting/house church movement in Long Beach. We desire to make a lasting impact in the community, not just with the message of the Gospel but also with the hands and feet of the body of believers. We're trusting that we can serve the community and show them the love of Christ. We want to show students what it means and is like to be Jesus to the world.

Yep, that's a huge dream. Yeah, we're trusting God within the next month that most of the early stages of this dream to be solidified. Oh yeah, then we're trusting God for the perfect team of staff and students. But I have to believe that the God I love and worship is all about Miracles.

Rocky Mountain Getaway Bachelor Style

This weekend is our Fall Colorado Campus Crusade Conference, Rocky Mountain Getaway (RMGA). We're up in Keystone, CO with about 600 college students from around the state of Colorado. This will mark my 11th RMGA. Last night and this morning I could see my bad attitude of the same old same old conference. This morning I was reminded and convicted that yes, even in this simple conference, God moves. One of the profound things about the RMGA is that is a quick, 2 night conference, but something amazing happens up here in the mountains in my life and in the lives of students. God meets us. He shows us our sin. He shows us His grace and love.

This weekend I'm up here with out the family. For some reason, good or bad, we decided that they kids and Stine should stay at home. It is a weird experience being alone and leaving her with the kids. I miss them already and have looked at my pictures of them two times. I'm praying that in this time of solitude (if that is possible with 600 college students) God will meet me in new ways. I'm also praying that in the quietness of our house (if that is possible), after the kids go to sleep, God will meet Stine in new ways.

It doesn't really matter if we're up in Keystone or we're at home in Superior, our expectation should always be seeing and experiencing God in new ways. Some worship God in on this mountain and others on that mountain. It doesn't really matter. Worship God!!

Feeling Nervous Again

This past weekend was our families first intramural tournament for our karate program we have been involved in since March. Jonathan, Benjamin and Christine and I are all involved in Tae Kwon Do here in the Boulder area. It is a ton of fun, a great work out and I have learned to defend myself from knife attacks. Very useful in the kitchen.

We drove down to Denver to perform our forms we have been learning in class. There were tons of kids and adults there. It was a neat family environment and super encouraging. Yes, we have entered into interesting sub culture of karate. Jonathan and Benjamin both competed in the form Chon Ji. Jonathan got a first place finish and Benjamin a finalist award.

Christine also, who is super good and performs real well got a first place finish too. She performed Kama 1, which is a weapon form. Pretty cool stick deal with a sickle looking blade on it. She is kick butt and watch out or she'll scissor kick you in the head.

The funniest part of the day for me was that I felt super nervous to compete against 5 other men. What we have to do is in our ring, walk up, bow, and say a little presentation to start our form, kama 1. I walked up, felt pretty good and then my brain went to mush. I was so nervous. It was like I don't ever public speak in front of 100's of students each week.

I did my form, did it okay and fortunately I had more nervous guys in my group. So by default I won first place. But in all the experiences of the day, it felt good again to be a bit uncomfortable, nervous, and beside myself. I'm sure as I lead our ministry, family and interact with those that don't know Jesus yet this is where God wants me. Not feeling confident in myself, nervous and a bit queasy. It was a reminder to trust in God in all I do.

The Common Thread

This past week I preached on Spiritual Friendships, some interesting things I have been learning about Community and Fellowship from Tim Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NY. One of the things I shared Tim Keller shared was that Spiritual Friendships are discovered, God brings them into your path when you're focused on Him, about His things, and falling in love with Him. I began to think about a guy I meet with weekly for lunch; for the past year. He is a 5th year senior at CU and one of the brightest kids I have ever met. He is well read (he also reads everything I give him) and well thought.

I really like our conversations and began to think why do I, a 34 year old, father of 3, not a student, and campus minister like hanging out with this kid? What do we have in common? What is it about our friendship. Then I realized, our common thread is Jesus. He openly admits that he doesn't know Jesus or even needs to but we find ourselves talking about His life every week. I find it stimulating, challenging and encouraging. I can be open about my desire to see him come to know Jesus. I share that I pray for him. I can encourage him, etc.

The amazing thing is that we haven't done anything outside this lunch conversation. All we do is eat lunch and talk. It is one of my most enjoyable times of the week. I have a spiritual friendship with a guy who doesn't even know Jesus yet, but our common bond is Jesus. Interesting. We'll see where this goes. I'm trusting in the truth of Christ to rise to the top and hopefully I don't get in the way.

Looking forward to Reading

One of the books that really began to challenge my perspective on spiritual growth personally and within the context of groups or church was Cultivating a Life for God. The thing I appreciated about it was the emphasis on simplicity in spiritual growth. I have been in ministry for over 10 years and find myself making the process to know Jesus and pass that onto others more and more complex; go to this training, read this book, say it this way, study with these techniques, yada yada yada...

Neil Cole in his observations in planting churches in So. Cal. and around the world has found that if you simplify the growth and multiplication process you'll find that people will quickly pass on what they know and learn. Spiritual multiplication happens naturally. I took this almost as a challenge to see if it would work and change me as well. I shared it with some friends who I meet with regularly. We talked about reading high volumes of scripture, sharing what we learn, holding each other accountable and praying for each other. There was a desire to give it a try. My desires is Jesus and I want more of Him than a program or system for getting him. We're still in that process of figuring out why we meet and what we do.

Just recently I learned that Neil wrote another book: Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens. I'm looking forward to learning, being challenged and growing from what Neil has learned. You can also read a small interview on some of Neil's thoughts and perspectives in regards to church and spiritual growth at a blog by Eric Swanson: Movements everywhere and Church Multiplication.
Categories: Books

Soccer has started

I'm not sure why I jump into the responsibility of coaching the boys soccer teams. I only played 2 years and I was 9 and 10 years old. I guess that makes me an expert. :) It is a ton of fun to see the boys interact with their friends, learn the game and just have a ton of fun. Jonathan is in his 3 year playing and Benjamin in his 2nd. The blessing is that Benjamin's league doesn't have practice so I can manage coaching his team and Jonathan's. I really enjoy being around the boys and making them laugh.

I guess there are two reasons to keep coaching these teams. 1. I'm around the boys when I normally wouldn't be. It gives me more connect time and time to work with their character, their work ethic and how they deal with loss. 2. I love the community of parents in soccer. Jonathan's team is mostly returning players which means we have gotten to know the parents fairly well. They are great people, encouraging, and loving towards me and the kids. I have coached soccer and basketball, basketball being a love of mine. Basketball on the other hand doesn't foster a good community of parents and kids. It is indoors, no food and drink allowed, and noisy. But there is something about soccer. Saturday mornings, the fall, warm weather (mostly), oranges, snacks, drinks and playing at the playset afterward all provide a cool environment for connecting with each other.

We had our first set of games this past weekend. Jonathan's team had a double header and they won 6-0 and 3-1. Benjamin's team, unfortunately, lost 2-3. His team is pretty funny. You can probably envision the blob of kids in one circle kicking the ball with no order or plan. Jonathan's team is growing and getting positions, centering the ball and breakaways.

I'm looking forward to more connections with the parents and kids and even more so the end of year party that we will hopefully host in good weather.

A must read - Liquid Church

I just finished the book Liquid Church by Pete Ward. It is a challenging and insightful book on worship, mission, and community of the church. He encourages us to look at the church as being liquid, not solid. "Liquid Church is not a program or mission project; it is a community rooted in the fellowship of the Holy Trinity. The intimate dance of God can be experienced only by those who accept the invitation" (p.98).

One of the most encouraging and insightful chapters to me is Chapter 9: Regulating the flow, Part Two: The Spirit and Grace. I love his insights from Moltman, Kuyper and Edwards. This chapter is worth the $9.

Another aspect of the book is as we try to engage people who don't know God often we just try to tell them that they need God. You need church, God, salvation, the Bible, etc. On the other hand, as we begin to understand what people are looking for, experiencing and searching for we may change our approach and just attempt to raise their awareness of their desire of God. It is a bit messier and not as clean and controlled but as people learn their desires are for God we must trust that this new kind of church is the answer. The liquid church is a bit ambiguous and chaotic. But it is also engaged into the culture, immersed in it, loving it, changing it, interacting with it, and showing the love of God to it.

Enjoy the read.
Categories: Books

Leading Leaders

We are already two weeks into the fall semester at CU. Ministry is going well and I am enjoying leading some of the best staff and students in the world. Last year we made a change in our emphasis on how we will gather and grow students. We believe that in order to reach all the students on the CU campus we must go after the students, getting into their worlds and not just ask them to come to us. We have gone away from pushing our attractional (come to us) weekly meeting and are planting little mini communities all over campus. Our desire is that every type of student will have a Christ centered community within their immediate reach to see the person of Jesus in the lives of other students.

What I need to do then is lead leaders so that they will in turn lead other leaders, specifically students. Ministry for us at CU has changed from a ministry focused on me or the rest of the staff to a ministry built on students reaching students. These past two weeks have been hard but the encouraging elements are when we see our vision of students reaching students happening. It is fairly humbling when ministry isn't about me, my efforts on campus with students but I have taken a different role; helping staff and students do the work of Christ centered communities in their worlds.

Through the whole process I'm learning to inspire others, train them, coach them, resource them and help them experience God in great community. Can't wait to see what this all looks like in 2 years.

She loves football!

Having a little girl is an exciting adventure. Let me share with you what has been happening.

If you didn't know, this past week was the opening week of NCAA football. I look forward to this time of year. I love the weather in Colorado, I love the beginning of the fall semester on campus and the experience of going to a Div I football game at Folsom Field is WOW!!! Yesterday was no different but now I have a little girl to join me.

Saturdays are always started with making the kids (really the boys) pancakes. Then I looked over and Isabela was ready for the CU vs. CSU game. She was wearing a cute little pink Colorado Buffalo shirt. She too was excited for opening day. She joined me for our tailgate party and cheered loudly. Unfortunately she didn't get to go to the game but when I pulled into the driveway afterward there she was hanging out in the front yard (still wearing her shirt, she had dirtied it yet), CU flag flowing from the porch and then with open arms and a huge smiled jumped up and down for me. That has to be one of the greatest experiences. CU wins with a 40+ field goal with 9 seconds to go and then I come home to my beautiful princess waiting for me.

The rest of the night I played Mr. Mom as Christine hung out with her dad. The boys were playing Bionicles, cards and cars and this is where the playtime dynamic changed. Before we could place Isabela on the carpet, leave and 30 minutes later she hadn't moved and inch. Oh well, that's over. Now the chaos begins. She learned to crawl and we're all in for a treat; Bionicles ripped apart, cards thrown all over the room and knick knacks knocked down. She has found new freedom and is loving it. Her brothers are now at least amused but I'm not sure how long that will last. Having these three kids at home, playing, loving each other, laughing, even fighting is life. They bring so much to a home and we are so grateful.

The day ended and Isa even watched some football on TV with me. She continues to grab my heart and fully knows that I am wrapped around her little finger. You know I'm already thinking about going to get her a little CU cheerleader outfit.

12 Years and Counting

Today is my 12th anniversary. Wow! We have made it this far. I sit here this morning and am so thankful for the past years. I was talking to Christine a couple of nights ago and we were so excited for the next 12 years. It has been a great journey filled with hard work, great challenges, growing love and an amazing family. We can't imagine what growth, adventures, joy, struggles and fun the next will be. Although the next 12 can have all sorts of experiences (good and bad) attached to it, we look forward to moving ahead together.

One thing we have been noticing the past few years is our growing desire and practice to show the other much more grace and forgiveness than the previous 9 years combined. It has been refreshing to know that the one I love, know the best and have been married to loves me, accepts me, and forgives me. In this openess and vulnerability of our weaknesses and fear we have found a great freedom to be who God has made us; with all our mistakes and issues. And at this point we have found our love for each other grow.

It is super fun and refreshing to just be Steve. She loves me, inspires me and encourages me to be a better husband and father. I am super grateful to God for the women he placed in my life 13 years ago.

She's got me worked over

Yesterday the last of the 5,000 incoming freshmen students moved into the dorms at CU. Every year our ministry, Fuel, helps students and parents carry boxes, luggage and toys to their small rooms. It was different for me this year.

I caught myself looking at weary fathers, sweating, exhausted and anxious about their little daughters going off to a place like Boulder. Then I looked at their little 18 year old daughters, who look like 25 years old, on cell phones, wearing hardly any clothes and super excited about their college experience. Then I had a panic attack. Isabela and myself in 18 years. Ouch!!

I grabbed Isa when I got home and talked to her about her upcoming experience. I told her to watch out for herself, stay pure, ask Dad for anything, and be a good girl. She smiled, laughed and then stuck her fingers in my mouth. That's probably what I needed the most. Basically, don't worry about it Dad, lets just cuddle, play and laugh. It's pretty amazing what my little princess is doing to me. I like the pull on my heart that she has. Ultimately, I think I'll be okay.

Cancer still at home but localized

Yesterday was a hard day of relationships, meetings, and getting back on campus to start ministry again. On top of that, about 5pm I was expecting a call from my parents to see what the bone and muscle scan of my dad yielded. As I was talking to Christine a few hours before, I just began to cry that I didn't want any more hard things in life. I just want to see fruit. I just want to see God move supernaturally in my life and in the lives of others.

I know that those emotions come from a strong desire for comfort and peace in my own life. I know that I often want things to work out just the way I want them. But I also know that God's grace is sufficient for all that comes across our plate. When I am weak, he is strong. That is the power of why God sent Jesus. Because at all points in my life, I am weak and I need one that goes before me to give me strength. That is my daily plan. That is where I want to be, falling on my knees before God, crying out, "Help!"

Well, I did get the call and it was my mom in tears saying it was good news. Dad's cancer hasn't spread. It is still localized to his prostrate and the Dr. communicated that we had caught it fairly early. Dad is either in stage 1 or 2. Mom and Dad were so relieved and you can imagine, I was too.

I am grateful to God for his answer to our family's prayers for my dad. I'm grateful that God still reigns in our lives. I'm grateful that whatever trails or tribulations happen to us, God is there with us. I'm glad I don't have to live out each day in my own strength. It's just so limited.

So what's next in my dad's physical life? Mom and dad are going on an Alaskan cruise this Saturday. Go Party!!! Then when they get back they'll deal with this chapter in their life; most likely with surgery and some treatments. We're still praying for complete healing but most importantly we are praying that we are totally dependent on God.

They are growing up

This past weekend our staff team, 16 adults, a two spouses, and 8 kids, went up to Summit County to have a good time, connecting, laughing and having fun. It was really what we needed as a team and as a family.

Sunday our team drove over to Breck Ski Resort to hit the Alpine Slide. The part that was so enjoyable for me is that the boys, Jonathan and Benjamin, are now big enough to join us. They were so excited.

Jonathan at first was a bit scared to go by himself and you can imagine that his fear soon disappeared. I looked over and there is my little boy, almost 7, flying down, hooting and hollering just like me and our other staff, the big kids.

As we jumped off he gave quick high fives and I'm sure he felt like the other guys. "Dad, dad, dad, can we go again? I want to ride with mom. I want to ride with curtis. I want to ride by myself. Can we race?"

For me it was a joy to see my little boys grow up. But with the same joy came a fear. Wow, they are growing up. Now we have little Isa, 7 1/2 months old, just learning to move around. Last night we caught on film her wiggling and squirming to get to the toy she wanted.

Kids are such a blessing from God. As we watch them grow, we are so grateful to God to be their parents. To laugh at their goofiness. To cry when they skin their knees. To be with them for so many more years. I can only imagine that the love I have for them is a portion of the love that God has for us as He looks down from Heaven.

U2 Fans check this out

I was reading a friend of mine's blog (Ryan McReynolds) site today. The article he came across is pretty cool if you're a U2 fan and/or if you've been wondering where Bono stands with Jesus, God and spirituality. For a guy who has been all over the map with his witness and testimony and music style this is encouraging.

Bono's Confession of Christ

Parenting and Leading Others

This past month we attended our National Staff Conference in Fort Collins, CO. This is a great time for staff to connect from all over the world, to refocus our hearts and minds and learn a ton about leading and personal ministry. One of the special sessions (Raising Kids on Staff) that I attended was a Dr. Henry Cloud, author of Changes that Heal. There were many insightful and challenging things shared.

One of the tid bits shared was 4 things to do for your kids. To say that I am achieving these four things is an overstatement.
1. Stay connected to your Children. Listen, validating them and seeking them daily.
2. Give them freedom and give them loving consequences when they make mistakes.
3. Help them to love being imperfect. Teach them to lose because they will. I think this is where the Gospel will become the most real to them. They will see their failures and learn to rely on the grace and truth of God. This will also take away the performance based living for self, others and God. As they consistently experience God's grace and ours they will continually bring problems, mistakes and sin to us and God.
4. Try to give them adulthood experiences as soon as possible. Increase their freedom as they are responsible.

Isn't that simple and profound. My prayer is that in the power of the Holy Spirit we'll be able to practice these principles in our parenting. Understanding that in the journey we will also fail. I can only imagine what kids will look like if they experience an environment like this while growing up. I would guess they are well adjusted and confident and are great leaders in their community.

As I lead our ministry team of 16 other staff and many other students I am encouraged these same principles apply to leadership. Stay connected, give them freedom and loving consequences, teach them to lose well and experience God's grace and help them become adults as soon as possible as they take on more and more responsibilities.

There are not many new things under the sun. Especially in the area of parenting and leading others. It really comes down to loving them, giving them grace and truth and environment where they can win and fail.

I'm thankful that in my parenting and leading of others it is a journey and that I don't have to be "perfect." Practice, practice, practice.

Do I "In God we Trust?"

Today I received an email that was convicting and a great reminder of what I need. I often find myself running out the door on my own strength and lose perspective of what I'm doing and who I'm doing it for.

Here is the email from Gilbert Kingsley:

In God we Trust.
A couple was staying with the husband's wealthy boss. On the way to dinner at an exclusive restaurant, the boss stopped short to pick up something in the street. The wife was surprised to see that it was only a penny. When she asked later if the penny might have had some value, the wealthy boss called attention to the words, "IN GOD WE TRUST". He said that whenever he finds a coin he stops to pick it up and checks to see if he is trusting God. He sees it as God's way of starting a conversation with him. Is he trusting God or his own means?

It may only be an urban legend, but I have adopted that practice. This morning, at the 2 mile mark of my 3 mile run, I saw a penny in the street. I actually ran past it because I was running at a good pace and did not want to stop. But I thought better of it and went back to pick it up. As I started off again with the penny in hand, I found myself in prayer telling the Lord that I wanted to trust Him, to say "Yes!" to Him and to be His. It was a meaningful worship experience, running in the sweltering humidity of Orlando. Interestingly, (now this may be my perception or my superior athletic ability!), but I noticed that my stride was longer during that final mile. When I finished at the marked time I had set, I had run further than at any point in several months.

Did I just psych myself up? The pragmatist would say so. But for those of us looking for the touch of God in our everyday lives, I believe that it was God's reminder to me to stop and recall what my trust is in. It was confirmation that "those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31 NIV

This is a very busy time for all of us, getting back from CSU, finishing up summer assignments, solidifying our financial support, gearing up for FSK distribution, getting in touch with student leaders and, generally, preparing for the most critical weeks of the entire year. But our trust is in Him. We go with God's blessing. We are on His mission. Yes, we want to start new ministries and grow existing ministries and give more students a chance to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. But we are God's messengers. In God we trust.

Bias is changed

Yesterday, a journalist from the Colorado Daily in Boulder, CO called and wanted to ask a few questions about our ministry on campus. The local Hillel Center director, Devorah (a friend), mentioned to this reporter that she call me. She had some basic questions like what are you trying to do on campus and how many students are involved. I love these opportunities to share with an outsider who is willing to listen to what God is calling us to be and become on campus.

After a short 20 minutes sharing my dream to be a group that creates Transformational Spiritual groups that build bridges to the campus, every ethnic and affinity group. I contrasted that vision and dream with our old way of doing things; asking students to come to something we have built (our refuge) and promising them that they will experience life change. We still believe what we have to offer is life changing but we now want to get to them, relate to them and listen to them. At that point we can start dialoging about faith and God issues. I was explaining to her that this is different than having our starting point in our relationships with the campus be our differences and our group trying to convince others that are wrong and we are right. Now we want to bring the love of Christ to them in a language, culture and setting that they are comfortable with.

She asked more questions and then on a personal note asked me about a group that visited her high school a few years ago. The journalist, who is Jewish, said she was offended because this group told her she was lacking purpose and meaning in life because she didn't have Jesus as her Saviour. This may or may not have been communicated but what is important is what she heard. In the groups noble and valuable efforts to love high school students they alienated a gal who is open to talk about spiritual issues. I apologized to her for the experience. I agreed we, Christians, have made some grave errors in trying to share about God's love.

She was blown away that I would apologize and was astonished with what we, Fuel, were trying to do on campus. She told me she had learned a ton through our phone call. She was grateful for our honesty and openness. She then vulnerably told me that before she called me that she had a negative bias against our group because of her past experiences with Christians. She said this talk really opened her eyes and changed that.

I just wish I could talk with each and every student in an open and honest way. Not that we'll convince all of them to accept Jesus but at least we can share with them that we love them, understand them and are willing to listen to them. If we take a moment to do those things we will be shocked by how much we have in common with the not-yet Christians on our campuses and communities. Then and only then can we start talking about some of the deeper issues of faith and God.

I'm not sure what she is thinking now, but I am looking forward to reading her article and seeing what impact the love of God made on her.

Going through a transformation

These past couple of years my heart, brain and ministry have gone through a transformation and I hope will continue to do so. In the summer of 2003 I had been doing full time ministry with Campus Crusade for Christ based out of Boulder, CO for 9 years. Three of those years I had been the director and also have been given the opportunity to lead some movements overseas in Chile and Spain.

I found my self that summer feeling drained, tired and ready to quit the ministry. I couldn't reconcile what I was feeling inside with what I was doing daily on campus. We talked all the time as a staff team and as a corporate ministry about getting to all 60 million college students (now 100 million) around the world with the gospel but I just felt like the little work we were doing at the University of Colorado was in vain. Yes, CU has been a campus that has sent hundreds of graduates into full time ministry but it seemed we were missing the very students that surrounded us on campus. We would fight, dream, pray, strategies and labor hard at tweaking our outreaches, our weekly meeting and try to dream up something new and big that would be "it." They all seemed to go off with a small bang.

That summer one of my good friends (Jeff) from California gave me a few books to read. I have received books from him before but these came at the perfect time. The Spirit of God used these to take me on a journey of self discovery and renewal. The two books he gave me were
A New Kind of Christian and The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Win the West....Again. The sparked some new thoughts. They grabbed a portion of my heart. I have felt for some time that our ministry on campus was missing the majority of not yet Christians. Our solution as stated before was to just tweak and work harder at a weekly meeting. But the not yet Christians weren't coming and didn't really care about what we had planned. We were failing at getting to the culture that God had called us to reach.

What I saw happening in my life was a dissatisfaction with church, my own relationship with God and our ministry. I was going through the same old motions of meeting with God and going out daily to reach the campus. What I was missing was a heart that was soft and ready to be used by God to reach the lost.

A few other books:
The Story we Find ourselves In
The Younger Evangelical
Adventures in Missing the Point
Blue Like Jazz
Invitation to a Journey
The Church of Irresistible Influence
The Kingdom Assignment 1
The Kingdom Assignment 2
The Divine Conspiracy
and recently
The Shaping of Things to come: Innovation and Mission for the 21st Century Church
Liquid Church
Cultivating a life for God
Master Plan of Evangelism
The Church in the House: a Return to Simplicity
and a few audio sermons and Bible studies from Tim Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church

Some of these are great and I would recommend and others were just okay. But all in all they formed some new thoughts, ideas and most importantly renewed my passion and desire to reach those that are not yet Christians.

At times it is frustrating because I still feel like I am failing as a leader to reach every student every year but I feel like God is calling me, us, our team, our ministry to try; to step out in bold faith; to try something new, radically new. If we don't we'll lose a whole generation of men and women who need a savior.
Categories: Books

Cancer Hits Home

This past year Christine, my wife, experienced the interesting and painful experience with Cancer. Her mom, who lives in Texas, was diagnosed with brain, spinal and lung cancer. It has been a confussing year of understanding cancer, frustration with Dr's and just plain not understanding what God is doing through all of this. Fortunately, we have been able to send Christine to Texas a few times to spend intimate time with her mother. She is still in treatment and still we are not sure what is going on and if she is getting better.

Well tonight I got a sobering call from my mother in California. My mom and dad were just out in Colorado this past week and it was great seeing them again. My dad received some bad news from his Dr. He was diagnosed with prostrate cancer. I'm not really sure how to respond or feel. Having your mother-in-law with cancer is one thing and it is horrible. But having my dad, the steady, patient, encouraging servant in my life, find out that he has cancer seems totally unfair. I want to be the rock for him. I want to be the one who brings hope and helps our family fix our eyes on Jesus. But at the same time I don't know what to do.

These past two weeks I have been attending our Campus Crusade National Staff conference and it started out with our staff family just being honest with God, sharing our hurts, bringing before God and each other our pains and sufferings. A close friend of mine two weeks ago lost their baby in utero at 36 weeks. Another of our friends here in Boulder lost their 12 year old daugher in a horse accident. None of this is perfect. This isn't suppossed to happen. And through all of this I try to relate but don't quite understand how to feel or what my friends are going through.
My brain tells me to be a rock. My theology says that God is good and all will be okay.

At my friends daughter's memorial they sung the song, Blessed be Your Name by Matt Redman
Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where the streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name
Blessed be your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's all as it should be
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Oh, There's pain in the offering
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,
I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say...
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to stay
Lord Blessed be your name


This is how I want to respond. This is how I want to live. When the good and bad come, my response will always be Blessed by your name.

This will be an interesting adventure. I take comfort in knowing that my savior, Jesus, fully understands me, fully knows what my dad is going through and fully has us all in His hands.