Getting REALLY Real

I'm really supposed to be finishing my message for this weekend, but I had to stop and post this. This week was another amazing time of work, prayer and faith in God at LifePoint Church. As we continue to transition (it's a longer process than you might think or that I might want), it still goes well, but there were some moments of real awe and wonder.

We had our all staff monthly meeting, and sharing some expectations I have of the staff and they can have of me led to some amazing discussions and a few tears. God has put together a great staff here, and it is my privilege to lead them toward the Big Dream God has for us together. The conversation there opened up many positive, constructive and creative discussions during the week.

There was a lunch meeting with our Global Missions Director, John Cressaty, and Pastor Craig Fuller from LifePoint Incline Village that really had me thinking about the importance of all we do in the life of our church. There are about 150 children sponsored by families in the two LifePoint churches, and the report from these guys who had just been there a couple weeks ago was amazing. The lives of these kids have been radically changed by the generosity of the folks in Carson Valley and Incline Village. What hit me as I drove away from the meeting was the truth that no other mission organization was able to work with the church and school we are partnered with over there, so without us, literally a whole community would be in danger. The discussion we were having over lunch was about literal life and death issues. It was sobering, making me wonder what silly, foolish things could we let get in the way of important, life changing, life and death work for God's kingdom if we weren't careful. Like I said, sobering.

And the rest of the week has been meetings and preparation for our Accountability Team meeting and making sure we're heading in the right direction as a church. These are good times to be sure, since most of what we get to talk about is good stuff. We keep praying (and you can join us in this prayer) for wisdom and clarity as to the future and some of the big ticket items we have facing us, like building repairs, building the next much needed building, and the site improvement plan. Lots of stuff to think, pray and plan about.

And in the midst of it, my son turned 14, and the kids entered their last week of school for the year. Exciting times, interesting times, and the constant reminder that time is moving ahead, whether we want it to or not. Mac likes to remind me that he's going to be driving in a couple years, which I feel will go by like a couple weeks. Things are really real in my life right now, big things, and important things, but even the small things are good things. They are all very real to me right now.

Is It Okay To Feel Good?

Just got done with an amazing weekend at LifePoint Church. Some pieces:

• Over 170 women came together for the Beth Moore simulcast. I stopped in to see the crowd, and what an amazing sight. Heard nothing but great comments about the teaching - what would happen if all 300,000 women who were watching around the country started living without insecurities and taught their daughters and sisters how to do the same? I love the thought of that! I'm excited for what's going to happen when the women of the Carson Valley get it going on like that around here!
• We got to celebrate 15 baptisms this weekend! That has to get your pulse pounding! I love seeing the faces of people when they come up out of the water and hear their church family cheer for them, there's nothing like seeing the joy on the faces of people going public with their faith. I LOVE MY JOB!
• I'm hearing that the men's groups are filling up and getting ready to launch new groups. I'm so glad to hear the Spirit moving in the lives of guys, it's always good for the church family when men are getting lined up with God's plan.
• There's a group of people getting ready for their trip to Africa next month. God is already teaching and growing the team as they are preparing to go, and we'll get to pray for them and send them out next week. What I'm really looking forward to is the stories of what God does in them and through them while they're there.
• Invisible Children are going to be here on Wednesday night. I know the youth staff are fired up about having them come, and hearing from one of the child soldiers that was rescued out of that awful situation should be powerful.
• Last but not least: THRIVE is next week! This is my first one, so I'm extra excited. I'll be blogging about that more later, but just know that I'm fired up to learn, grow and see what's working at other churches next week.

So, is it okay if I'm feeling good about what God's up to these days?

I know that there are ups and downs on the journey of following Jesus, but right now, let's ride the high! Let's enjoy the excitement and the energy of the momentum God is building. Let's build on the good that's happening and push out in faith toward what Christ is calling us to next. What do you say?

Pictures From New Orleans

My friends from Indiana sent me a ton of great photos from the trip to New Orleans, and I got to share some of them on Sunday during the message. For those who didn't get to see them, or who just can't get enough of Gene on a ladder or Brett with gumbo...


Getting things started:

Gene making the windows look brand new:

Brett getting the railing on for the deck:

A FRIEND working on the fireplace mantle:
They made sure I had supervision when using power tools:

Brett makes a friend:

From left: Gene, Brett, and me with Steve on the last day.

Thanks again to everyone who went, prayed or gave so that this trip could be a life changer. And feel free to start praying about the possibility of a trip this spring, there's still lots left to do.

New Orleans - Home and Hopeful

For those outside the Portneuf Valley, the Mission Team made it home safe, even in time to catch the last half of the ISU game. There's a lot more to process, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, and I think God is still whispering lessons in my ear about the whole deal, so while I'm trying hard to listen and learn, enjoy these photos:

Making myself useful -

Gene on a scaffolding, making the windows into the highlights of the trip -


Praying together with the Indiana team for Steve -


Bret working on the fireplace mantle -

The three of us with Steve -


I'll post more pics when I get them from the Indiana crew, they got a lot more. Again, thanks to everyone who prayed for us, and the support and encouragement we got was amazing. Thanks especially to Jean, Missy and Beth for being so supportive for us while we were away.

New Orleans - Day 5 - Last Day

We tried to get the mantle done, but the Indiana team needed to get on the road around noon, so there was a deadline. Since they had all the tools, and all the help, and were our ride back to the hotel, we had to shut it down whenever they told us to. Gene finished his last window and was helping inside while Bret and I raced against the clock. The mantle had a 60 year head start on us, and was very determined to hold all of it's paint.

Doug from the Indiana team helped us. He has three boys about Bret's age, so the conversation ranged all over the place. He's a Dave Ramsey fan as well, so we had much to talk about. We scraped, used stripper compound, poured sweat and gave it all we had. No break on Friday morning we discovered, we were working right through.

Finally, at about 12:15, they called us off the job. We had to get the site cleaned up and put away for Steve. We really did get a lot of projects done in and out of the house, and now, we had to put it away and get ready to leave. The mantle was about 85-90% done, but that's all we had time to do. There was a hint of disappointment in my heart, I must confess, but we knew coming in that we might have to leave things unfinished. Here it was. Last day, and unfinished business.

As we gathered to say goodbye to Steve, there was genuine gratitude in his eyes. There were tears in the eyes of some others in the group, too. Tom was asked to say the closing prayer, and as Steve held hands with two people who were strangers to him on Monday, he looked positively radiant. Tom's voice cracked under the emotions of the moment as he thanked God for allowing us to serve Him by allowing us to serve Steve. A holy moment. Then another: Steve said there were four words that were running through his head all morning, "God has blessed me." I know he meant it. That's a long way to go, from not wanting people to pray for him to acknowledging that he has been blessed by God.

There were hugs all around afterward, and a couple more pictures, then we rolled off to the hotel to go in different directions. The Indiana team had to get to their overnight accommodations somewhere between here and there, and we needed to get to the French Quarter for a last look around and dinner. Jambalaya, y'all. Couple times we were asked where we were from and what we were doing in town. There's a couple of football games in town over the weekend, so lots of tourists. When we told them about the mission trip, we got genuine gratitude from everyone. Some asked for details, others gave us handshakes and real eye contact when they said, "Thank you." That was cool.

Got an early flight tomorrow, then the drive home from Salt Lake. I've got a lot to process and a lot to pray about. Thanks again to all who prayed for us, we really felt lifted up while were were down here. To quote Steve, "God has blessed me." Thank you.

New Orleans - Day 4

The star of the show has been Gene. He's a guy who's good with his hands, and pretty fearless on a ladder, so he got the jobs that required those particular skills. He painted fascia the first couple days, and then scraped, sanded and prepped the windows. He got the rest of them nearly done today, and the talk around break time was that the biggest impact on the outside of the house was the change in the windows. People were so impressed with his work, and so excited that it made such a noticeable difference.

Bret and I spent the day stripping paint off of the old fireplace mantle. It's a part of the original house, and even though there's no fireplace anymore, Steve wants it ready to use as a decor item, maybe a TV stand or something. It's older than old, and has 349 coats of paint on it I think. We've been using chemicals and elbow grease to get down to the wood. I think we'll be able to finish that tomorrow before we call it quits for the week. At least we'll be close.

Talking to the boss man, Jerry, we're going to get to the end of what we can do at the house this week, meaning that there will need to be inspections and other considerations before any other work can be done for Steve. That is good news. We were told to expect to not 'finish' any projects we were on, so if we didn't get done with it, we would still have to walk away and be okay with that. The part that feels good is that we'll walk away knowing we took this project as far as the circumstances would allow.

I spent about an hour listening to Steve's stories of survival in his life: serious blood disease, amputations, struggles of many kinds, and that was all before the hurricane. After, it's been one hurdle after another. He's powered through bureaucratic red tape, been up and down the halls of power, called out the press to get issues spotlighted, and then been ripped off by contractors and held up by slow moving government. About the only bright spots in the whole story have been finding Spot, his dog (actually, Spot found him, but that's a different story...), and having the mission teams come in to help him. Literally, there would be no work done on the house if it weren't for the teams of Christians coming in to provide free labor. What kind of difference can we make when we reach out and help in Jesus' name? Lots and lots.

Spent some time shopping for souvenirs, didn't find what I really wanted, but there's one thing I want more than a magnet or a t-shirt -- to come back and help some more. This place needs what only Christ-followers can give: some grace, some love, some Jesus.

Please pray for us to finish all the projects we can before we finish up tomorrow, and that we can leave a lasting imprint on Steve for Jesus' sake. Also, pray for the Indiana folk to have a safe trip home, they're going part way tomorrow. Pray for the random lessons I've been learning to come together. I think I'm hearing good stuff today. And as always, thanks for praying!!

New Orleans - Day 3

This was the hardest day so far. Gene has been working on refinishing some windows on the house, up on scaffolding, scraping, sanding and priming them. They face the street, so they make a dramatic change in the look of the house - from old, nasty looking to clean and fresh. Watching him work with a power sander 12 feet in the air is amazing.

Brett spent the first half of the day digging and then filling in a hole. Turns out that the sewer line WAS connected already, no need to dig. Sometimes you have to dig a hole in order to find out that you didn't have to dig it. He worked on a couple projects, one was scraping and sanding the mantle of the fireplace. It's definitely older than any of us working on the project, and he's being very careful.

I got the job of the day - the one no one wanted. :)

There's an access ladder to the attic in the hallway, one of those folding staircases. The door and the molding around it are both very old, and were wet enough in the flood to have gotten a bad case of mildew. The mildew was dead, but it needed to be scraped and sanded, prepped for a fresh coat of paint (possibly the first new coat in decades?), which meant holding a power sander over my head for about 5 hours. We tried to use a rotary, smaller hand sander, but they wouldn't work, so the big boy went up the ladder with me a bunch of times. As everyone walked by, they would either comment, encourage or joke with me about either the good job I was doing, or how no one else wanted to do it. It made me determined to get it finished.

By 5 pm, the sun is going down, and the lighting isn't good enough in the house to keep working, so we're usually cleaning up and getting ready to leave by then. At 5:15, I was priming the trim work around the door with Kilz to prevent future mildew. Kind of a good feeling to have a project start and know you're going to finish. And I'll always know that this one part of the mission house was my own personal project.

I'm hearing more of Steve the home owner's story each day. He's a survivor in so many ways. He's had to fight government and local officials, and even got on the front cover of the local paper over one of the battles just to get his house back in livable shape. But he's gone from telling people not to pray for him to saying, "knock yourself out" when I asked if I could pray for him.

Please pray for Steve, his health and the ability to stay focused and work through all the details that face him on his journey to get back in his house. Also, pray that Jesus gets to be more and more real to him.

Pray for us, we are all dog tired, and completely wiped out at the end of today. I'm going to be sore tomorrow, and so will Bret and Gene. Pray for the strength to finish the week strong and get lots of projects accomplished so that Steve gets in soon. Also, pray for us to keep shining Jesus around the Big Easy. We keep getting opportunities to talk to people about why we're here, and they are always so touched to know people are coming to help. More on that later, but thanks for praying, all of you.

New Orleans - Day 2

Today, the work started in earnest.

All the projects that we lined out yesterday got a full day of work, including finishing hanging the door, digging a hole to hook up the sewer line, starting to put a hand rail on the access ramp (did I mention it was GINORMOUS!?!), a lot of sanding and finishing up drywall work, a couple more lights getting wired in, and the first coats of primer for painting. The 21 people working all at once looked at times like a hive of bees swarming the house.

Steve, the homeowner, was blown away by all the work getting done. He's had a few crews out, but none have gotten as much done in a week as we've been able to do in the first two days. He's touched by all the effort on his behalf, and he loves telling everyone he meets at the store about the crew he has at his house.

He told me twice that he had a "preacher question" for me. He was unchurched until crews started helping at his house a few months ago, but now he's in church every week. I started getting nervous, wondering what question he wanted to ask me but hadn't asked his pastor. I prayed for wisdom, that God would give me the right words, and that he'd be open to my answers... all the stuff you pray when you are scared of what someone might ask you.

We got a few minutes to talk, and he gave me his question: "When you look out on your congregation during the sermon, and you see someone nodding off, or completely asleep, does it make you mad?" I laughed, and told him my standard line: "I'd rather have you sleeping in church than awake at home!" Now Steve laughed.

He said he nods off in church, not because his pastor is boring, but because he feels so comfortable and safe there, he can relax. I looked at him, sitting on his scooter in the backyard of his house while 20 other people were cleaning up at the end of the work day, and said, "With all that you've been through and all the stress in your life, if you can find a safe place like that at church, that's a great thing." Tears started in my eyes, but Steve was just beaming. This guy has been through so much, fighting insurance companies, the government, thieves, the city, all to just have a place to live. He's glad we're here, but I'm amazed that he's here. God is doing a work.

Big props to Bret, who spent most of the day digging out the sewer line. He was 5 feet down a hole, digging in the blackest, wettest, stickiest mud you've ever seen. Everyone checked on him, and everyone was encouraging him every shovel full. Gene was the hero yesterday, high up on ladders, and Bret was today, down in a hole. Pocatello has it covered down here, whatever you need! :) I did get to use a table saw and a nail gun today with no serious injuries.

Pray for good sleep, for the weather to stay dry for the painting tomorrow, for the work on the handrail to go smoothly, and for us to get the sewer line done in a day so we can hook up and get the plumbing ready for Steve to move in.

New Orleans - Day 1

We got up at 6:30 and got breakfast, had devotions and loaded up to go to the house where we'll be working all week. We met Steve the owner, a double amputee who had his house flooded twice during the hurricane and aftermath. The house itself is now 8 feet up on concrete pilings, but he is still living in a FEMA trailer on the front lawn with his dog, Spot (seriously, that's the dog's name!), after three years of fighting to get his place livable again. It's been in the family for three generations, and he's hoping to live in the home his grandfather built.

There's plenty to do - drywall repair, mudding and taping, sanding, hanging a door, wiring some lights and switches, painting and prepping for hanging gutters outside, putting rails on the GINORMOUS ramp in the back yard... there's a ton of things needing done, all with the goal of getting Steve out of the trailer and into his house by the end of the week.

Gene took on the painting (a pro with ladders and scaffolding, he was up and down all day), Bret grabbed a gun (nail, of course) and finished off the railings on the ramp, and I framed in a door, helped wire in a light, and moved scaffolding all around the place. We all finished the day physically tired but spiritually charged. Talking to Steve, it's obvious that he's touched by all the help he's getting. He's just started attending church after a few mission teams started helping him with the house. God is at work in his life, right along with all of ours.

Getting to know the team from Indiana has been fun, they all have a wonderful sense of humor, and enjoy laughing their way through the work day. There are several seasoned home improvement veterans, and a couple of real-life contractors, so the work is going fast and well. I'm being asked to use power tools, and they are threatening to have me use a nail gun. Stay tuned and keep praying!!

There's a lot of work to do, and a lot of ministry along the way. I'm still keeping my eyes open for some God moments here on the front lines; that's where they always happen.

You can pray for a few things for us: a good night's sleep, safety and wisdom as we work, the ability to get everything done in a timely manner so we can get Steve in the house by the end of the week, and that we shine Jesus to Steve, the neighbors, the people we meet at lunch and around town, and to each other. Pray for us to see what God brought us here to see.

More tomorrow.

Feet On The Ground In New Orleans

We made it!! Gene, Bret and I are safe on the ground in New Orleans, and getting settled in. Met the folks from Calvary Baptist Church (they even gave us t-shirts!!), and had a great dinner, now just making friends and getting ready for tomorrow's work.

In driving around tonight, it seems like some things have not changed at all since Beth and I were here on our honeymoon 17 years ago, but then, you turn a corner and see devastation - boarded up businesses, homes still in ruin, streets in disrepair - and you remember that it's been three plus years since Hurricane Katrina almost wiped this place off the map.

I can't wait to see it all in the daylight, and to get to the house where we're going to be working. The early word is that we're going to be repairing a home for a double amputee, including a new porch, ramp, some gutters, paint, drywall, and probably more. Hoping for some demolition, since that's my strong suit, but I'm just happy we get to help.

You can help by praying for us, specifically for the three of us to connect well with the Indiana team, for the work to come together tomorrow, and for safety and effectiveness. I'll try to get a few extra posts in this week to keep all y'all up to date. Yep, been in the south for less than a day, already picking up the language... :)