Losing Life

Missional Boys

Here's my son Jake and two of his good friends.  Typical high school boys...cool matters as they dress up for a student red carpet event at church.  But here is something different about these boys. Every Sunday at 6:00am, you will find them at one of our CCC locations unloading trailers, pushing chairs and tables, hanging signs and transforming a high school into church.  After set up, they attend church one hour and lead Jr. High kids the other hour...then it's on to tear down.  Here's some high school boys who get the mission.  Are they doing it because their parents asked them to?  Are you crazy?  No high school boys would get up at 6:00am because their parents asked...we didn't ask.  But Josh Jackaway did.  A 23 year old leadership resident at CCC whose trading his life for the mission, pouring into these boys and teaching them to lose life for the kingdom. 

The Roof is Done!

Well it was done three days after it was started, which is a good thing since it rained a lot this week.  We had lots of great help from friends and we are so grateful.  Here is Scott and Don with Don's new invention that he created from garage scraps.  It is a shingle carrier.  You use it to get those heavy shingle packets up on the roof.  Scott would load up the shingle "backpack" and Don would go up the ladder and lean over to "dismount" the shingle pack off his back.  It was hilarious.  I think Don is going to make a lot of money off this thing.  You saw it here first the Don Kajawski shingle carrier 2000...unless you have a better name for it.  Please share.

Mitch's debut

  Mitchell debuted this weekend as a kids city communicator.   He talked about the 3C's of Community Christian Church with the help of Paul the Apossum - the foremost Bible Scholar in all the woods - who surprised the kids by popping out of Mitchell's tent.

How can you NOT love that!

Happy Birthday

Troy is 43 today!  Happy Birthday to the best husband I have ever had!

Giving away ownership

  I am blog stealing, but this is just a great reminder from Mark Batterson, pastor of a church in Washington, DC:

It's amazing how much of assimilation comes back to very basic principles! The simple things are the important things! It's how to win friends and influence people.

Give people ownership.

Ownership is the best path to membership! The Journey involves non-believers in ministry. Nelson said, "I'll let an unbeliever take the offering. I just won't let them count the offering."

Write personal notes!

Find creative ways to say the same thing over and over again.
"People say no to what is unclear."

Help people identify next steps!
Give people the opportunity to sign-up!

If you prepare for guests God will send you guests!
"Buy the umbrella before it rains!"

Make the path straight!

Money

I almost didn't write this post.  I thought perhaps people would think it was a public service announcement.  But the truth is, this is really what I am thinking, and I try to keep my posts true to what I am thinking as opposed to writing what I think people think I should be thinking.  So here goes.

One of the ways God continues to help me grow is when I am challenged to give my money away to the Jesus mission of helping people find their way back to God.  When I am challenged to give my money away, two things happen:

I reflect....

• on God as my provider
• on God as owner of it all
• on myself as manager of what I have been given
• on the end of my life - what I want to have done with my resources - both spiritual gifts and material resources

I grow...

• in selflessness - pushing away the urge to make life about me and my comfort
• in compassion - pushing myself to care about other people's eternities
• In trust - that God will meet and exceed my needs

As CCC faces our NEXT mission - our current challenge to give above and beyond to help more people find their way back to God, it would be easy to get the "ho hum, here we go again" attitude.

But this morning, I came across this really great passage of scripture, and I find myself thinking, I WANT THAT.

This is in 1 Chronicles 29:9 when the people, led by David, are preparing to follow through with God's instructions and build the temple.

"The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord."

Then David prays, "...for everything in heaven and earth is  yours.  Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.  Wealth and honor come from you;  you are the ruler of all things....But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this?  Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand...for all this abundance you have provided...it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.  I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.  All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent."

• I want David's prayer to be my prayer
• I want to KNOW that God is the owner and provider of it all
• I want to KNOW that I don't have to hold tightly to my stuff cause it's His stuff anyway
• I want to care so much about helping people find their way back to God that I will sacrifice radically to do it
• I want THAT mission to define my life
• I want the people to look at the leaders of CCC and rejoice at our willing response (1Chronicles 29:9)

That's what i want, I am not saying it is easy to do it.  I struggle with selfishness EVERY single day.  But that prayer of David, that is what I want to be like.  And every time we talk about money I am challenged to live that way.  I need the reminder, the challenge and the accountability.

So BRING IT ON!

Shingles

We removed 40 years worth of roof shingles today.  Now if it doesn't rain until Tuesday, that would be good. 

I must have said "don't fall off the roof" about a million times today.  To which the boys would reply, "Why? It's not THAT high." 

So of course, just to make me crazy, when I go and take the picture, Mitchell is doing his "look mom, only one foot!" pose.  Ahrrrgh!

Twenty Years

Yesterday Troy and I celebrated our 20 year wedding anniversary.  He bought me boots.  Not a gift certificate where you go and pick out your own boots.  Not one of those "honey, the boots I want are on isle 3 at DSW, here is a picture of the exact pair" deals...nope.  He picked them out, brought them home, gave me the box and said, "I hope you like them."  That is brave.  What kind of man is brave enough to buy his wife boots?  And guess what?  They are perfect!  So if you see me going around in very nice leather black boots, think good jobTroy...  A very happily married man of 20 years whose very YOUNG wife wears high healed black boots that make her freakishly tall!!! 

Here we are

Well...some of us anyway.  This is them, my small group that I am so proud of.  There in the middle are Rich and Mary.  Hiding behind her husband is Stacy. Then there is Mike and Jill...Mike started the whole small group for which he takes credit for every chance he gets. And Ro and Steve our newest members who are now hosting.  Kristine, our triathelete who likes the swimming and biking part but not the running.  And Troy, who has been leading us for two years.  That's us, for now anyway.  Next week that US will be minus 4 plus 6. 

1x2=2

Multiplication!  We did it.  Our group officially multiplied this week...congratulations to Scott and Denise Cottingham and Rich and Mary Mulligan the missional people who took small group to a new place so more and more people can find their way back to God.

This is the third group that has multiplied out of a group that was started about 2 years ago. 

Like missing my tree, I will miss this past season of my small group. 

We reflected last week on what we have been through as a group this past season.  Here is what was said:

• We have seen each other grow in Christ - hugely
• We have seen one of our group members through a battle with cancer
• We have welcomed new members
• We have a new host house...that is made for hosting small group
• We have prayed for our children- a bunch!
• We have prayed someone through a triatholon
• We have prayed someone through India
• We have developed a new leader
• We have said goodbye to a member moving to Texas

It was a great season.  This next week we are expecting 6 new people to attend our group.  As much as I hate to say goodbye to this past season, we are making room for these 6 more people to connect for the journey back to God.