.Real.Greg.Lee.

We’ve been getting a lot more details on our trip to visit Suncrest Missionaries Danny and Beatrice Buegar within the last few days  Here are some interesting updates.

1.  Denise, Jenny and I will serve on a 10 person American team doing a Vacation Bible School for the church there.  I found out today they are expecting as many as 400 kids!  That means when we break into groups, we’ll each be in charge of 40 children with the help of a Liberian volunteer.  Wow.

2.  Maybe you have seen on the news that there is a food shortage in Liberia.  Great timing, eh?  We are actually in good shape because our breakfast and dinner meals are already there.  They did ask each of us to pack a bag of rice for us to have lunch!

3.  Not enough beds for everyone, so I’m taking an air mattress there that I’ll be sleeping on.

4.  29 hours of total flight time…not counting long layovers in London and Nairobi, Kenya.

5.  We each get one suitcase at a max of 50 pounds for an 11 day trip…seriously.  We’ll each take a second suitcase, but they will be full of supplies for the team and items to give to the Liberians.

6.  If you’ve ever been on a mission trip or out of the country, you know that FLEXIBILITY is huge.  I think of myself as  a “roll with the punches” kind of guy.  We’ll see.

For a good summary on the country of Liberia, Click Here.

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I saw this the other day and it captured me for a couple of reasons.  

1.  Because we fail when we stop to see our leaders (government or otherwise) as real people…and this gives us some insight on that.

2.  Whether president or pastor or something else, I think it has a powerful message for the children of anyone who does life in the public eye.

It was done for the today show and is a message from the Bush twins to the Obama girls.  It’s worth the next 3 minutes of your day…

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Mondays are usually my day off and today had a lot of variety to it.

-Got a call from a friend saying husband was transferred to U of Chicago Hospital.  Will go tomorrow.

-Parent/Teacher Conference at Jack’s preschool.  Nothing surprising…he’s a great kid.

-Got 2nd installment of Hepatitis A & B shots at health department for Africa Trip.

-Played Wii Bowling with Jack.

-Played Candyland with Abby.

-Went for a 2 mile run.  First run outside, but the cold didn’t bother me as much as I thought it might.  Feeling it now.

-Went to Culver’s to support benefit night for “PJ” who had bone marrow transplant…cousin of the Hoogwerfs from our community group.  (Pictures above are Abby’s ice cream face and Jack with “Scoopy”.)

-Kids baths, books, prayers, and bed.  Hard to beat those times.

-Now…Catching up on the day’s email, writing letter to the church, and not eating (Biggest loser weigh-in tomorrow!).

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I’ll probably post on this a few times between now and the conference as more highlights become available.  Here’s what we know right now.

-Suncrest will host a 1-day version of the conference on Tuesday, March 31.

-If you are a Suncrest attender, we are working out a special registration process for you!

-If you are a church leader, this thing is a great deal.  You get Larry Osborne (author of Sticky Church), Dave Ferguson and Scott Chapman all in one day.

-The price is super-reasonable at $99 until the end of this week…and the one-day format keeps travel costs way down.

–Click here and read this note form Larry about the conference.

-Suncrest’s own Mary Beth Stockdale will lead a workshop about utilizing technology and social media to make your church sticky.  (I’m probably listed too, but she is driving it!)

–Click here for all the details on the conference.

Hope to see you in March!

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You 2.0 is the name of our new 5 week series starting at Suncrest tomorrow.  It’s defining for us as a church.

We’ll start with a super important “conversation” about our spiritual lives.  It will be different from any message I’ve ever done.  Then, we’ll dig into 4 weeks about the practices of following Christ.

If upgrading your faith matters to you at all, make sure you check in for all of this one…online if you can’t be there in person.

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Had some friends at Suncrest graciously give me tickets to the Bulls game tonight.  After being gone all week, I took the kids with me and jenny had some time to get caught up on things. 

I also got Tim Barbee to come with us.  Tim’s a great guy who grew up in my student ministry at Suncrest..which is starting to feel like a LONG time ago.  It was fun to catch up on the way into the city and have him around to give me a hand with the kids.

Bulls lost…again.  That’s OK, the kids were as interested in the fun stuf during time outs as they were in the game.

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I’m passionate about some things…so I try to spread the word liberally about what I’ve found to be the best of life.

#1 on that list always has been and always will be Jesus.  Embracing him offers salvation beyond this life and an amazing (but not easy) life on this earth.  I want everyone to know.

A few notches down that list are ultra-practical things in life that just make life more fun, enjoyable, help maintain relationships, etc.  For me, Facebook and Twitter are two technology pieces that I think everyone should explore.  You might find they aren’t for you, but I was a skeptic once too.  Now, I’m a true believer.

If you aren’t on facebook yet, you just missed your chance to be in the first 200 million people signed up (and facebook did not exist 5 years ago)!  It can be used casually or intensely.  It can be a worthwhile or a time-waster.  That’s all up to you.  The biggest change I’ve noticed in the last few months is how much the 30-61 age range (so that includes you, mom!) has picked up steam in using it.  So, go sign up for it and send me a friend request.

Twitter is different in that it is more specialized and it’s usefulness (at this stage) might be more limited in scope right now, but the potential for it is limitless! That will only be more and more true as more people use it.  Right now, there are about 5 million of us.  Want to make it 5,000,001?

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It is amazing how technology is opening ministry opportunities…

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Hi Greg,

My name is Dawn and I live in Hong Kong. A friend of mine – Jen Skidmore- recommended me to listen to your podcast and I have been for the past 6 months.

I have recieved a lot of revelation from God through your teaching and the current series on Making Change has been hitting me hard (where it hurts!).

I just wanted to say “Thanks” and really encourage you. What God is doing through you is having a wider impact than you could possibly imagine.

Thanks for being faithful to deliver what God is saying to you and stepping up to speak truth in a relevant way that is having an impact on my life.

Cheers,
Dawn

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Any way you slice it, today was a landmark day for our nation.  I watched the inauguration with these 17 other pastors from around Indiana.  It was a substantial event. 

The pastor sitting next to me was moved as someone born outside the USA, but naturalized as a citizen.  There are two African American pastors, who helped me understand the power of this in their lives personally.  There was reflection and critique on the speech and the prayers (personally, I loved both prayers as diverse as they were in style), the peaceful transition of power.

I’ve been wrestling through my reflections most of the day.  Let me break them down in some categories:

I think everyone should:

-embrace President Obama as our leader

-pray for President Obama as our leader

-Follow President Obama’s calls to individual Americans.

I think our country needs:

-a lift…I tend to think this comes spiritually more than emotionally.

-a challenge…to sacrifice.

-to “put childish ways behind” us

-a reality check…that our country is facing a new era and old solutions and gridlock will not work

I’m most hopeful that:

-President Obama will embody meekness…a truly humble strength.

-We all will own our responsibility in a healthy democracy.

-We will remember that God works through leaders. 

-And that God works most often outside of government structures.

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I’m at Wabash College and as part of the Wabash Pastoral Fellowship (read about that by clicking here).  With 17 other pastors from around the state, I just finished a discussion on Henri Nouwen’s simple and profound book about Christian Leadership.  I read it 15 years ago in undergrad.  It was different this time.

Most of the difference was in my pastoral experience.  And the most significant piece was in my always-strengthening bias toward active leadership.  I find myself more willing than ever to question authors and understand that books are written and read because they have a compelling and uber-focused point.  Real Life tends to be more nuanced and situational.

My two cents on the book this time around:

1.  It’s a wrestling match book and that is good.  Nouwen makes you think.  And the most important thing he has me thinking about is the role of contemplative prayer as the basis for ministry leadership.  It should trump all other motives (especially unhealthy ones) when it comes to direction and leadership.  Nouwen says, “Christian leaders cannot simply be persons who have well-informed opinions about the burning issues of our time.  Their leadership must be rooted in the permanent, intimate relationship with the incarnate Word, Jesus, and they need to find there the source for their words, advice, and guidance.”

2.  I disagree with more of what he says than ever…at least in it’s broad application.  A few quick examples:

-he pushes for a move “from the moral to the mystical”.  My question…why not both?  Mystical is powerful and needed, but i don’t think it’s an advance from the moral.  It is situational.

-he pushes for communal and mutual leadership.  I know there is value in that.  Collaboration is a high value for me.  But not always.  Sometimes the role of leadership is to stand against the direction a “community would take things.”  Lots…and I mean lots…of times God designated a leader to…well, LEAD!  Sometimes it was against all of man’s advice.  Sometimes there were close advisers.  Sometimes it was because the moment demanded urgency.  Sometimes it worked.  Sometimes it failed.  I think what you would have to conclude is that God doesn’t have one way for this to happen.  It is situational.

-Practically, I always wrestle with the question of process vs. result.  It’s never extreme on either side, but Nouwen definitely emphasizes process.  I tend to emphasize result.  I’d argue this is healthy for anyone who thinks in terms of mission (which Jesus did and the early church did).  There is a world to be redeemed with the grace of God and I’m interested in using whatever process helps to accomplish that goal.  Can’t be naive.  Can’t think just short term.  Can’t just use people in unhealthy ways.  Can’t do something sinful or ungodly.  But given those parameters (and more), the accomplishment of mission is more important than any process to get there.

Wow.  That was longer than I intended.  More on our discussions tomorrow.

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