Days Are Winding Down

It's Monday evening here in Kampala and Dan and I have returned from a very long but exciting day in the Jinja - a city 150 km directly east of Kampala. Jinja is famous as the source of the Nile and Dan and I got to experience where the Nile forms from Lake Victoria and begins its trek northward to the Mediterranean Sea. There are some incredible falls at an area called Speke. Dan shot some great pictures and I got some great videos. But before we headed to the source of the Nile, we distributed the final 13 pairs of shoes at individual homes today. What a blessing to be a blessing on your behalf. These homes are nothing more than sticks and mud with straw or rusted metal roofing. Without the help of all of you, these children would not have had much of anything for Christmas. Instead, they have received new shoes and socks for the coming school year. We especially enjoyed spending time with the Garrett's sponsored children. I'm bringing some video home from them and from a few others as well.

We also located and stopped by an organization called Suubi (hope) that works with women who have been displaced by war-torn Northern Uganda. These women make beautiful beads that are then shipped to the US for sale in boutiques around Denver. We hope to see a partnership develop with them in the future. I shot some great footage of this young American couple from the Northeast who have only been in Uganda for a short time. They are to be married in two weeks here in Uganda.

Dan and I enjoyed our last dinner together in Uganda at the guest house. We dined on burgers and chips to celebrate our last night together. It's been an awesome trip for both of us and I especially appreciate him joining me. It's been an amazing experience that I hope each of you will have a chance to share someday.

Being the Church

This Sunday, instead of meeting inside Killian Middle School for our Gathering and "going to church", Crosspointe canceled the morning Gathering and became the church. We met outside in 25 degree cold and enjoyed some hot coffee and donuts before we gathered together to sing a Christmas carol, pray, and get into our teams. Gifts in hand, we separated into 8 teams to head to the homes of 8 families that CCA had helped us identify who could use our help and encouragement.

Thank you to all the team leaders and everyone else who put much thought and prayer into this. I know the families feel very special and blessed that they were chosen to receive this godly kindness.

We would love to hear your experience of the day. How did this experience affect you? What was your favorite moment of the morning?

Sunday in Uganda

Today was an amazing Sunday! Dan and I were able to meet so many of the sponsored children and their parents as they gathered together for the holiday. The service began at 10:00 a.m. with praise and worship that continued until 11:45 when I was called up to preach. As you know, this was a big moment for me and for the UCP as I deliverd a message on Zaccheus entitled, A Little Man Encounters A Big God. My focus was Zach's repentance and the evidence of that repentance in the form of resitution for the money he had stolen. I had to name both Pastor Joseph and Director Vincent as unrepentant theives. It was not my favorite hour of the trip. The people just listened with somber faces not really wanting to belive what they were hearing but they know that it is the truth. Both men have confessed to the church but no restitution has been made. Both men will return to prison the day after Christmas if they do not make the first of their six payments.

We left the church and headed to Pastor Michael's house where his wife Mabel had prepared a traditional Ugandan feast and where I was able to join in the cooking and whip up a quick stir-fry dish - Thai Green Curry. It really was good but pretty spicy compared to the bland food of the Ugandans. Dan I feasted on yams, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, hot coleslaw, beef, peas and peppers, matoke with G-nut sauce and of course, stir-fried grasshoppers! You read correctly - Grasshoppers - a real delicacy and they really taste good!

From lunch we went an hour across town to the Full Gospel Church to enjoy a special musical celebration in our honor and then to hand out the remaining batch of 100 shoes. On Monday we head to Jinga to meet with the people from Suubi and do some sightseeing. We have 13 pairs left of the 1480 to hand out today in individual children's homes.

I know we had an exciting day but I also want to hear about your Christmas visits. What I have heard has been amazing. Share some of your stories!

Friday and Saturday's Events

The last two days have been long days! We made our trek up to see Pastor Fatima in Kassanda that included a traditional Ugandan dance. Two bottles of water...2000 shillings, 1 chocolate bar...750 shillings, the look on Dan's face when the dancer shook her boodie in front of him...priceless! As we have expected, we've run out of shoes at every location. We've not even been close. By the time the shoes are handed out to the project children, there are not many left for the sometimes hundreds gathered. It's actually harder then I thought it would be as we have to deal with the dissapointed kids and the sometimes angry parents.

I've been proud of how the team has organized things this time. After the first day I told them that we had to be more organized. We were just dumping boxes and fishing through sizes as the mobs attacked. Since that day we have been organizing our shoes when we arrive by sizes and by girls and boys and then we try to do an orderly distribution. This works for a bit but then all hades breakes loose when people see that the shoes are depleating rapidly. Then it becomes parents grabbing at shoes for their kids and we have to intervene. I only wish we had more pairs! It's an amazing site to see. We've got great videos and tons of photos.

When we returned from Kassanda we went back to the church and reloaded before heading out to the Evangelistic Church of the Lord located not to far from Kiwatule. Once again we had well over 250 kids and only 100 pairs of shoes. We also have the problem this year of not having shoes in the smaller sizes because of waiting so long to purchase them (at least that is what Michael is saying). We had a great celebration with them and then handed out the shoes.

Today (Saturday) started off early with a visit to Kiwatule. I have never seen so many kids packed into that building. Michael and Grace both said it was the largest group ever assembled there. They were literally hanging out by the windows and doors and standing room only from the stage on to the back. I suspect there were every bit of 400 kids and we had only 40 pairs of shoes to deliver. Most of the kids had been there since 8 a.m. and we didn't arrive until 9:30. After three hours of music, dance and skits (yes, you read that correctly), it was deemed that we could not pass out shoes in the church without creating a dangerous mob scene. 40 project kids were discreetly ushered to the office area to receive shoes. The remaining children and parents were sent home empty-handed. That was a very difficult time for me. I was tired, hot and thirsty and I had a seat. Most everyone present did not have a chair as the chairs were on loan to a local revival. Kids were spread everywhere squatting, standing and a few seated. I don't know how they managed. Both Dan and I were led to stage for a dance. I doubt the video to that will ever see the light of day!

When we sent everyone home, we grabbed a bite to each at Garden City before trekking to Entebbee to Jubillee Full Gospel Church. Once again, hundreds of kids and only 100 pairs of shoes. Dan and I began to hand out shoes and then things got to crazy with parents and kids barking out things in Lugandan and our English just wasn't cutting it. We finally just pulled back and let them fight it out so to speak. There was so much grabbing that at the end, we had six or eight mis-matched shoes. Several kids got out with two left feet. We sent Elder Kato through the crowd and got most of them corrected. This church was full of beautiful people. It also had a rather strange young man who led us across the street to his small reptile farm. We got to experience some really huge vipers (I mean four to five feet long and 6 or 8 inches around). He just kept climbing around inside these concrete vats full of bushes and grass and pulling out these poisonous snakes and holding them out to us. I have some amazing video and Dan has amazing photos.

They dropped us off at 7:30 p.m. at the hotel. We were able to get quick showers before a light dinner while watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition in the beautiful outdoor TV room. Tomorrow is a big day so I'll sign off for now.

Mpigi

Another amazing yet exhausting day! Even Dan admitted that he was
getting weary. Today we visited the Mpigi EPC. Pastor Jimmy was
waiting with his hand out as usual. I told him that I had no
authorization to give him any money for school fees (he said something
about he himself going back to school or some such). We had a great
turnout of kids. Wait until you see the video. We are running hundreds
short at each place as we expected but no angry mob. We did have to
hand some socks out at a place near Kiwatule (the one that used to be
with us in the EPC and then left) as the crowd was so huge but we had
only a small amount of shoes (100) but in sizes that were way to large
for many of the kids. I have a great picture of about 150 kids
surrounding me with their shoes and socks. Just as we were finishing
the picture, the sky opened up and one of the meanest rainstorms I've
encounter in Uganda fell on us for nearly an hour. We were stranded
for the time anyway as we had to send the van off for repairs. We have
been having some trouble with the radiator and a piece on the front
right suspension. I have no idea what it cost to fix but we had to do
it to make the trip to Kassanda tomorrow.

We got to eat at Garden City today. Dan was impressed at the dozen or
so waiters that were each trying to get us to eat their food. I
settled for the mixed grill from Pardis and the others had chicken
and/or pizza. So far we have done well on the budget and have kept the
team happy and hydrated. It's a good thing since it was very warm
again today until the storm moved in.

I have been preaching my same Christmas message at all three churches
having saved the Zaccheus sermon about forgiveness and restoration for
the big crowd on Sunday (at Michael and Kato's request). Our crowd
tonight was real small because the rains came at the time of the
midweek meeting.

I am not certain of our schedule on Sunday for food but Dan got to
experience a small Talapia at The Chef. He had the hairy chop as they
call it and I had the chaps. I am looking forward to Indian on
Saturday night at Garden City. We are always somewhat tired as
they are picking us up at 8 a.m. sharp and returning us to the hotel at 7:30
or 8:00 each night. I think we have about 400 more shoes to give away
tomorrow and Monday on the way to Jinga. We are making great headway!
I'll keep you up to date as I can.

600 Pairs Delivered.

The last two days are unlike any I have spent in Uganda! I knew it would be different but it has been amazing and exhausting all at the same time. We spent the better part of 6 hours collecting 1300 pairs of the shoes yesterday (Tuesday) and we had to go back for another 2 hours today to get the remaining 180 or so. The market is jammed like I have never seen. I had to keep bribing the parking man to let us stay and load the shoes. We rented a truck for 50,000 to get the bulk of the shoes. It was a very nice Muslim man that clearly stated to me that the rule of Jesus is through and it is now time for Mohamed to rule. We all pray that one day he will be saved!

It is very, very warm here - about 38C - and absolutely no breeze. There is no air-conditioning at the ARA (they are in the window but they do nothing more then move the air since the freon is long gone from them). We do, however, have high-speed internet which makes keeping up with folks at home much easier. Tonight we were invited to the ARA Club Christmas Party out by the pool. We met some interesting Missionary Aviation Fellowship folks from Canada and another missionary family. We mostly just felt out of place as visitors to Uganda while the vast majority of the members of this ARA Club are Ugandan residents.

I begin preaching tomorrow in Mpigi and then Kassanda on Friday. I will preach tomorrow night at Kiwatule. Dan is in for a treat tomorrow as we get to travel out for his first taste of the Ugandan Bush country. Friday's trip to Kassanda is even more remote. I am looking forward to seeing his response (or shall I say his backside's response) to the treacherous terrain!

We have not seen or heard from either Vincent or Joseph and they have not troubled us during the day. We did learn some interesting things from Michael about how the police have been troubling him about bringing the American visitors to the police station. They have a nice letter drafted from an attorney explaining the connection between the UCP and the EPC. Michael told us that if they had shared the troubles they were having with the police, we might not have come. He is right!

We are planning a Ugandan feast for Dan on Sunday that will include grasshoppers and white ants! Today he had chaps and chips at The Chef in Ntinda! You should have seen his face when the plate when down. It looks like a large, battered sausage with fuzzy things connected to it. Good eats!

Thanks for all your prayers! I will update you again when we can.

Safe and Sound

We arrived safe and sound late last evening after a long but uneventful trip. Our hotel is absolutely beautiful and the security is unbelievably tight. We feel sort of like diplomats! Dan is settling in just fine. The money for shoes arrived via wire transfer and we were able to get 29 million shillings to buy 1407 pairs of shoes and stockings! It was a huge ordeal at the bank but that is the way we wanted it to be - difficult for people to get money out from project funds.

Keep praying for us as we begin distributing shoes tonight and as I (David) share at the Kiwatule church tonight. There has been some dissension in the church over our treatment of the former pastor and project leader who stole from us. I will update you as soon as I can.

Bye for now.

Sharing Christmas Presence

Yesterday, Pastor Dave and the worship team took us through the history of bell and gifts and their association with Christmas. Each of us was invited to reflect on the Gift of the Magi. We were asked to consider how the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, were amazingly profound gifts for each of Jesus' traits as King, Priest, and Sacrificial Lamb.

We were also asked to recognize which gifts we can bring to Jesus. Specifically, we were asked:

-Write a sentence of prayer to the King

-For whom do you need to pray this Christmas?

-What can you sacrifice this holiday season?

I look forward to your responses. Here is this week's heuristic...

Getting This Christmas Right Part 1

This morning, PD took us through some of the traditions of the Christmas season. He talked about where some of those traditional elements come from , and why we use them. Then he asked if we just go through the motions of the Christmas season, or do we really recognize it as an amazing time of worship and use those elements to remind us that Christ is the "reason for the season?"

How about you? What elements/rituals help to focus your mind on the meaning behind this time of year? Which ones do you simply do out of tradition?

Track Progress By Obedience

So, yesterday, PD discussed how we track our progress in our Soul Journey. How are you doing with that? Do you track it by the blessings or lack thereof in your life? Do you track it by your own personal inner calm? Are you talking to God about your progress? Talkback here. We would love to hear your thoughts.

Pause. Reflect. Remember.

Yesterday we experienced an amazing Communion and Baptism Gathering.  Pastor Dave took us on a journey through the five senses to deeply experience the mystery of the Sacraments. So, here is the question this week.

Which element/sense resonated with you the most, and why? A second part to that, how can you use the memory of that experience as you go about your Soul Journey this week?

Don't forget to chime in with you response. Here is this week's heuristic.

 

Altar Your Perspective

So, this week, PD discussed Blindspots and Altaring Your Perspective. How are you doing with that? Are you able to recognize your own blindspots? Do you have people in your life who can help you with that and "spur" you on to making changes? Reflect. Respond. Here is the heuristic. Also, if you need a mobile version (for your phone, PDA, etc. Visit www.Crosspointe.com

Soul Journey Reading List

Some of you have been wondering what I've been reading as part of my preparation for our Soul Journey series. So this week, instead of a post with questions for you, I will simply source you with books I've read over the past six weeks by topic. Enjoy!

I talked Sunday about doing some shadow work. Connie Zweig and Richard Rohr have been instrumental in in challenging me in this area. Richard Rohr's classic work on the topic is Everything Belongs and Connie Zweig weighs in with The Holy Longing: Spiritual Yearning and Its Shadow Side.

I'm a huge fan of the poet Luci Shaw. I had the honor of spending several days with her in the fall of 2007. I've nearly worn out my signed copy of her book, The Crime of Living Cautiously: Hearing God's Call to Adventure. This work is a work of prose laced with her poetry. Once you experience her work, you'll be a fan as well.

For more information on the concept of Thin Places, check out Tracy Balzer's book, Thin Places: An Evangelical Journey into Celtic Christianity. Tracy is the Director of Christian Formation at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Her piece is an introduction to the great spiritual legacy of the early Celts including practical ways for us to apply ancient spiritual disciplines to our lives. If you add Macrina Wiederkehr's Seven Sacred Spaces: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day to Thin Places, you have a great one-two punch for your personal devotions.

Finally, for more information on my recent references to Quantum Physics and its potential for spiritual formation, check out The G.O.D. Experiments: How Science is Discovering God in Everything Including Us by Gary E. Schwartz. Consider pairing it with Alber-Laszlo Barabasi's Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means for Business, Science and Everyday Life for a fuller understanding.

Soul Meandering

I introduced the concept of soul meandering during our Gathering Sunday. I will wager that most of your soul journeys resemble the meandering stream I described than the ordered, sequential models that dominate Church spiritual formation models. I'm interested to hear your stories. Has your journey been more ordered or more of a meander? Do you agree or disagree with my assertion that spiritual formation happens as life happens on a need to grow, need to know basis? What makes vital information stick for you? An inquiring mind wants to know!

Think. Feel. Do.

We've been focused for the past several weeks on important role that intellect, emotion and will play in authentic spirituality. At this point many of us are looking for the step-by-step process that will integrate each of these into our Soul Journey. Each dimension of our personality can lead at appropriate times on our journey, but none should lead as a practice. What dimension tends to lead you on your journey? Why? Do you have a dimension that you tend to let atrophy? Can you determine why?

Improve Your I.Q.

We learned today that the rational mind is not the authority we wish it to be. Our confidence in collective human intellect has been shattered again and again. Human reason fails and it fails often. What's our response when this happens? We certainly don't lament the unreliability of our intellect. We simply chalk it up as an exception to rule and press on with our knowledge acquisition. Let me ask you, why does reason get so much credit in spite of it's repeated shortcomings? Why do emotions get so much flack when we know they can help move us in the right direction? I believe that emotional intuition has a noble track record. What about you? Any ideas on improving our I.Q. - our intuition quotient?

A New Way of Seeing

We completed our third week of our Soul Journey series on Sunday by looking at the long history of contempt associated with emotions and spirituality. The Enlightenment has strongly influnenced our viewpoint on how spiritual formation happens.

I'm interested in hearing how this new way of seeing spirituality has impacted your life. Are you beginning to see in ways you've not seen before? Are you connecting what you see to how you feel about what it is you see? What role has emotion played in your spiritual formation?

Of Journeys and Stuff

Back when John and I were a young family with young kids, we would take trips to New Mexico (10 hour drive) that went something like this:

"John could I stop for--"

VROOOOM.

"But I really need to--"

VROOOOOM. VROOOM.

"Wait, there's a--"

VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

John told me years later that he had to reframe how he viewed the trip. Instead of viewing it as a goal to get to his parent's house in New Mexico it was a trip to have lunch in Sweetwater. With a stop for Dilly Bars in Amarillo. And a pause to check out the Allsups at....well, you get the picture.

Like John, I am typically goal oriented. Plot a course. Set trajectory. Focus on the destination.

But the Crosspointe thing has given me a different framework. Sometimes the best journeys are when you don't exactly know the destination. Oh, you may have a rough idea of the terrain, but there isn't a map. Just a sense of calling and a general idea of how to move forward. It occurs to me that those journeys are best shared with friends.

Last night, we went to the "Estate Sale" of all of the furnishings from Crosspointe's old space. I expected to feel sad, but didn't. In fact, it really struck me how much of it was all just "stuff."

What I did feel was a sense of belonging. As we walked through the rooms of "stuff" and laughed about things with Vicki, Kim, Jim, Nancy C, Angie, Margaret, Charity, Mark, Kylie, David...as we helped Jody load her car...as the Oxygen crowd drifted over to Steve's and made pizza in his kitchen chopping things and putting the pizzas on the grill (weird, but good)...I felt part. This was church. Not a building or "stuff" but living life and sharing faith with others.

Cultivate Sight

Each week of our Soul Journey series I will be creating and posting a Heuristic. A Heuristic is a technique of directing attention toward learning, discovery or problem solving. Some of you may be familiar with the concept if you enjoy solving complicated mathematic equations. I've adapted the concept by distilling our focus each week to an image along with a word or phrase. This week our phrase is cultivate sight. Our goal is to notice God at work in the world, at work around us and at work in us. I hope you will share your "seeing" moments here and at our Gathering Sunday. Happy sight cultivation!

Building God Boxes

I ran across this statement in my preparation for our new series Soul Journey: "God is always bigger than the boxes we build for God, so we should not waste too much time protecting the boxes." Do you agree that we build boxes for God? If so, what are the boxes we tend to build in which God must fit?

On Liminal Space and Negativity

Crosspointe is in liminal space - a place where boundaries dissolve and we stand on the threshold, getting ourselves ready to move across the limits of what we were into what we are to be. For many of us, liminal space represents a period of ambiguity, of marginal and transitional state. What often accompanies liminal space is anxiety, fear and negative thinking. Negativity is human nature but it limits our ability to move through liminal space.

Here are some thoughts I've either experienced or come across concerning the affects of negativity:

• Negativity always distorts the truth
• Negativity always results in sweeping generalities and harsh judgments
• Negativity always justifies itself
• Negativity always negates the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

In my view, we must be careful not to discount the role of a Positive Mental Attitude in this move. Harnessing our mental faculties for creating positive environs for ourselves and the people we're called to serve is both a laudable and attainable goal. One could also posit that it is, in fact, is a biblical mandate. The Apostle Paul commends to us the pondering of those things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8-9) If these aren't positive in nature then the adjective has no meaning. The challenge is how to think on and dwell upon these positive virtues. Any ideas or thoughts?

Spiritual Formation

Great message by Pastor Dave this past Sunday!

In the midst of his great points about the Practice of Gathering and the Practice of Journey, Pastor Dave pointed out that spiritual formation is ultimately the responsibility of the individual.

Do you agree or disagree with this statement?

If you disagree, why?

If you agree, in what spiritual practices are you currently engaging beyond the Gathering and Journey Teams?

Incarnational Community

As you consider the three spheres of incarnational community - oneness, togethernesss and otherness - which ones feel comfortable and which ones seem elusive to you? Why?

How do you struggle with the barriers between the spheres? Reflect on the aspects of individualism, consumerism and materialism that you may battle.

Welcome Home!

Welcome home to Pastor Dave, Angie, and Danielle! You've been missed and we're excited to hear more about your experiences in Uganda!

This week, Pastor Dave will be continuing with his Live Out, Invite In series. But to review thus far, there were four things that he challeged us as a community to do in living out: leave, listen, live among, love without strings. We've had a few weeks to let these sit around and marinade in our minds / spirits a bit, so let me ask: what resonates with or troubles you about these challenges? What questions do you have for Pastor Dave?

Hope to hear more honest appraisals.

Road Warriors Reach Brussels

We've made it out of Africa! Fourteen hard but great days on the ground in Uganda came to an end last night when our BrusselsAir flight taxied and departed Entebbe only moments before midnight on Sunday night. We all agreed that we looked as if we had been rode hard and put up wet to borrow an equine saying. 

The last few days in Uganda literally flew by before we knew it. It took us the better part of three days to get the last 16 or so kids on our list! Our final total was 270 kids in over 100 schools! Angie and Danielle were troopers! I'm so proud of them and all they were able to do. I was able to preach and teach nearly every night as well as each Sunday. I may share a message Sunday with you that I preached at EPC Kiwatule on our last Sunday together. It was a moving gathering that I can't wait to share more with you about. 

We have arrived in Brussels on her national independence day. All kinds of festivities are planned. We were able to have a preview this morning when the national cathedral held a special Mass for visiting dignitaries and EU members. They all turned out in their finest regalia. We are expecting fireworks outside of the kings castle later on tonight. Until then - some rest! Thanks again for your continued prayers. We will be back in the states on Thursday afternoon.

The Bucket List

Today's movie, The Bucket List, is a story of two terminally ill men who decide to seize the time they have left by writing out a "bucket list"; a list of all the things they want to do before they die. The movie is a powerful lesson on determining what's really important in life.

This morning, we created our own bucket lists and then discussed some questions based on our passage today, in which the Apostle Paul enocouages us to never pass up an opporunity to do good.

Question: How did today's passage alter your "bucket list", or did it?

A Special Worship Gathering This Sunday

If you hadn't already heard, we're having a special all praise, all worship gathering this Sunday. Karen's done a great job of setting up the gathering for this week and I have a feeling that this Sunday will be a powerful, refreshing time for everyone. I hope you'll all be there!

In advance of this (and feel free to chime in after Sunday as well), I wanted to ask a question.

We hear the terms praise and worship, bounced around a lot in church culture, and even in the mainstream culture to a degree. Depending on who you ask, the definitions of these terms can vary. So let me ask you a question: how do you define these two terms? If someone with absolutely zero church background came to you asking what praise and worship were, how would you answer them?

Bumby Roads Ahead

Greetings once again from beautiful Uganda! Our days here on the ground are quickly winding down. Unfortunately, the number of kids we still have to see doesn't seem to diminish as quickly. We still have about 50 kids to see in the next three days at a number of schools. With the Lord's help, I believe we will be able to see all of them!

Sunday afternoon was a great time as we headed after church to Kiwatule Recreation Center for lunch and a time of relaxation. We ordered Lake Victoria Talapia (as is our custom on at least one Sunday while in Uganda) and while we waited nearly three hours for the food, we were able to visit a recreation of the ancient tribal villages that once dotted Uganda. Each of the dozen or so tribes that occupy this beautiful land have a unique building style depending on their location in northern, southern or central Uganda. It was fun to watch the faces of our Ugandan hosts as they each located their tribal ancestors and imagined life in those huts. In actuality, things have not changed all that much with homes still being built from mud bricks but the straw roof has now been replaced with tile or more commonly, tin.

Monday was spent visiting 21 students throughout the Kampala area. Tuesday brought at trip to Kassanda. Kassanda is located about 85 KM outside of Kampala and is only accessed through some of the roughest roads you can imagine. After an arduous journey, we were treated to a luncheon of avacado, PB & J sandwhiches (we brought those), Casava (a root vegetable) and Chai tea. The girls were able to meet Pastor Fatima for the first time. She has been the pastor at Kassanda for some time. We love spending time with her. Jim described this place well when he said it is full of peace.

Tonight the girls get to speak with Lisa Steele at the EPC Women's Event that includes a matoke cooking contest, a traditional dress event and then the teaching time with the gals. Jim and I will spend the three hours or so meeting with the men in a roundtable discussion. We're all looking forward to the rest of the day.

Thank you for your continued prayers and for your support in this endeavor. God is doing some amazing things in not only our lives, but the lives of the children as well.

Uganda Part Two

Greetings once again from Uganda! The team continues to plod ahead with our mission having now personally visited with 206 students in over 70 schools. Only 70 more in roughly 30 schools. We are thankful for your many prayers and we can certainly feel them.

Our recent days have been filled by visits to students around the Kampala area. We continue to be impressed with the quality of our students and the progress they are making. We have been treated as honored guests in each and every school. Danielle and Angie are doing an awesome job! They seem to continually where a huge smile.

On Friday we visited at the school where the entire project began. Bright Futures Primary School began with 14 students and is now quadrupled. We were literally swarmed, then swamped with kids hugging us and pulling us toward their school. I have some amazing photos and video of the day. I've never seen Angie and Danielle smile so big! We celebrated with large pepperoni pizzas at the local takeout place owned by a nice Lebanese man. It was some of the best food we've had since arriving.

Saturday was a full day as we met 125 students at the church for what they call Saturday school. They performed song and dance for us as well as preaching and public speaking. Wayne's sponsor child, Jonathan, was the MC for the event. He was outstanding! We then took six of the kids who had performed at the top of their class last semester out for lunch and a trip to the zoo. The highlight of the lunch time was the excitement of the kids as they rode the escalator up to the food court in the mall. None of the kids had ever been to the mall or ridden on an escalator. I wish you could have seen their faces when they encountered the animals at the zoo! Their eyes were wide and they took everything in. What a day! We finished our day with dinner at a real Turkish restaurant!

Sunday was a day filled with worship and teaching. The girls were able to experience their first Ugandan worship service complete with 90 minutes of praise and worship along with traditional dance! All that before I got up to preach for an hour! I was especially proud of Angie who was drafted into the Children's Program on short notice to teach the lesson. From all accounts, she did a great job!

We miss you all! Keep praying for us!

Remap

Today marked our second session with transformational architect Ron Martoia as he followed up last week's session on "Bewildering Excitement" with the challenge of dealing with lostness. He often used the term "remap", and I think that's a great place to start our discussion this week, or rather continue the discussion from today.

What are you seeing as some of the challenges for you personally as you're working toward remapping an environment different from what we all currently experience as CrossPointe?

What are you seeing as some of the remapping challenges for us as a group?

Honest discussion encouraged...really!

Peace!

Greetings from Uganda

Greetings from Uganda! I apologize for the delay in getting together this post but things have conspired against us here in terms of internet access. We have been limited in our access but all is well. All of us had safe trips although we were all exhausted when we arrived. I was able to meet Danielle and Angie at the airport and although they were excited, they were definitely beat! It took a couple of days for them to get back to their normal selves but now they are doing well.

We have been able to visit with 134 children as of today (Thursday morning). The girls are out with the rest of the team visiting 25 more children today out in the bush to the west of Kampala. They will be crossing the equator so they are excited about getting some shots with a foot in the northern and southern hemispheres! I must say that I am very proud of the girls. They are real troopers. Danielle went down for the count yesterday with an intestinal issue from something that she ate. We are not certain of the culprit but we suspect is was a tomato that she ate. There was also the issue of some fire-hot chicken vindaloo at the Indian restaurant. In any case, she slept the entire day and is doing well today.

Both Angie and Danielle are naturals at this! They greet the kids with hugs and smiles and continue to be amazed by not only the beauty of the country but the amazing kids we have the opportunity to serve. Angie has been busy interviewing dozens of kids and writing in her journal faithfully. I hope to get them an opportunity to post sometime soon.

We hit the ground Monday with a huge day. We traveled about 100 km across some very rough terrain to visit our kids out in Jinga. We were able to cross the Nile River but did not have time to stop and visit the mouth of the Nile. We ate our first meal together at Ying Ying Chinese restaurant. Unfortunately, the government has banned beef and goat for the time being. Something about a disease that can affect humans. We had to "suffer" through twice-cooked pork and stir-fried eggplant. Both of the girls got their first bottle of SToney - a local ginger-beer type soft drink. Angie is a fan - Danielle not so much! OUr day which had began at 8 did not conclude until nearly 10.

Tuesday was a simpler day as we stayed around Kampala. We were able to visit over 75 kids in about 8 hours. I think that both Danielle and Angie have been profoundly impacted by what they have experienced. They have been amazed at how well the kids are doing considering the challenges they face. We have been greeted warmly by the Headmasters at each school - with a strong appeal for more sponsorhips for the many kids in the area not in school. It is hard to imagine that for every child in school - and their are hundreds of thousands - there are 2 or 3 more who are unable to go to school.

The highlight of our day yesterday, in terms of being a tourist if you like, was encountering a man who captures snakes for export to the UK and Japan. I was able to come within a few inches of a Yellow Cobra! I have some photographs to boot! Now before you jump on me for getting so close, it was only a baby - about 14 inches long. He raised up beautifully for my shot and spread his neck wide! It was awesome! Angie loved it as well. I am sorry that Danielle was sick at the hotel and could not be with us this day.

I have much I could say about the food we have been eating. Each meal is an experience in and of itself. We have eaten all kinds of chopped meats fashioned in to sausage like shapes and deep fried. Yesterday we had calzones that were stuffed with corned beef - or beef that had spoiled, we're not certain! There was no cheese in the calzone at all. It was served with a texas-sized hush-puppy the size of a large avacado.

Keep praying for the team - especially that we might have strong constitutions! We have many more children to visit and we are excited about the days we have remaining. I look forward to updating you again as soon as I can.

Questions

Today's gathering saw us venture into the cyberworld as we were able to hear from transformational architect, Dr. Ron Martoia via web link. Ron has been working with the CrossPointe leadership over the last year helping us to navigate the terrain as we prepare to move to our new location.

At the end of his session, Ron posed three questions to us for discussion, and discuss we did! However, for those of you who didn't get to participate for any reason, I'd like to pose them here on the blog so that everyone has a chance to chime in:

1. How are you feeling about our move? Honest
2. What excites you most about the possibilities? What possibilities do you see? What things are you dreaming about that we have never done before?
3. What preparations have you been/or/are you now engaging spiritually as we get ready to make this move?

I hope that this will be an opportunity for us to be completely authentic with one another as we share our hopes, fears, etc. in advance of 09-07-08. Let the discussion begin!

Horton Hears A Who

This week marked our first installment of "CrossPointe at the Movies" with a look at the very fun "Horton Hears A Who".

The movie clip, and our opening interaction led to a discussion on how we tell a skeptical world about the "giant elephant" who has shaped our worldview; i.e. how do we tell the story of how God has shaped our lives individually to a world that is skeptical about what Christianity has to offer. We also discussed the importance of tuning into the feedback that we receive from those outside of faith with regard to how we share our story (the "spiritual listening" thing that Pastor Dave talked about a few weeks back), as well as the importance of building relationships without agenda (loving without strings).

In the spirit of the topic, I received a little feedback on our time together today that I'd like to throw out to everyone for discussion. It was pointed out to me that we, as a group, tossed a phrase out consistently throughout the session; "planting a seed". Our line of thinking communicated that we're OK with being able to build relationships without "closing the deal" (leading someone to Christ). and that we're OK with "planting a seed", or getting our foot in the door as it were.

Let's continue our discussion based on that feedback. If we are still looking to "plant seed" in our relationships, don't we still have an agenda? Are we truly loving without strings?

I'm looking forward to your thoughts!

The Art of Spiritual Listening

Listening is a lost art. It's also an art we must rediscover as a missional faith community. The challenges to listening are myriad, not the least of which is slowing down our rate of thought (upwards of 3000 wpm) to the rate of our hearing (between 150-300 wpm). The challenge for this week is to intentionally seek out an opportunity to simply listen to someone as they share their story. Notice what happens when you make the choice to listen. Note also the distractions and challenges inherent in spiritual listening. Then, post your experience here or send me and email (david@crosspointe.com).

Moved From the Center

As a result of Christianity being moved from the center of American society, we must now work harder than ever to build relational bridges in order to connect with the people we hope to reach. Part of that bridge-building is being willing to leave. By leave I mean getting out amongst the people with whom we wish to connect as opposed to expecting them to come to us.

To leave is the first step in the missional and incarnational process. We must be willing to leave our personal, relational and religious comfort zones in order to build bridges of hearing. It requires us to resist the temptation we all have to return or retreat to what is comfortable for us. It also means we must leave behind our own preconceived ideas, personal biases and programmed responses to what church is all about.

Of the things listed below that I spoke about Sunday, which of these will be the hardest to leave behind and why?

• Viewing church as a place we go instead of a people we are
• Thoughts of “growing” a church in favor of fully-engaging our mission
• The dated pathways created for people’s entrance into church
• Pastor/Staff as the spiritual vending machine spitting out all the goodies.
• Seeing ministry as a program that happens at the church instead of the natural outflow of our lives

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Olympic Living

Yesterday I shared with you one of my favorite passages in Philippians 3 dealing with what I call Olympic Living; that it's not about how your life starts, it's about how it finishes. The two keys to Olympic Living as describe in the passage were to Focus Forward (to remove our focus from the things in our past that distract us from the goal ahead), and to Move Forward (begin to persistently move step by step toward the goal).

So talk to me, what do you find shifts your focus? What keeps you from moving forward?

Life Rhythms

Sunday was Acoustic Cafe in support of Uganda Children's Project Partnership Sunday. We were pleased to have Jim and Lisa Steele join us and share more about what God is doing through our partnership with the UCP. We also had musical guest Wes Holloway bring his unique style of interactive drumming as part of the Cafe. Our theme throughout the Gathering was rhythm. I asked the question during my message, "What is the rhythm of your life?" Having shared my personal rhythm, I'm interested to hear about the various rhythms in your lives. Feel free to comment on your Acoustic Cafe experience as well.

Here's Waldo

For those of you who questioned "Where's Waldo?" Here is proof that he did make an appearance in the screens.

The Power of Questions

We learned yesterday about the power of questions to move us to action. Deuteronomy 10:12 asks the questions, "What does the Lord ask of you?" We answered the question with four simple words: fear, live, love and obey. Which of these do you find the most challenging? Why? If not, why not?

For those of you with us in the Gathering, did you find the Where's Waldo question a distraction? Adding that element as a potential distraction was part of the Gathering design. Waldo was in the center of the love screen. 16 of the 19 text responses were correct.

Masquerade

We learned Sunday that it is possible to live the "Christian" life without having Christ at the center of our lives. This can happen most easily when we reduce Christianity to simply theology (knowledge about God) and rule (keeping the moral code of Christ). It becomes Christianity that is missing Christ! How bizarre is that? What is incredibly dangerous about this is that if Christ is not at the center, something else will be! What is it that competes for the center of your life? Can we be transparent enough to share?

A Shrink-wrapped Existence

Our ONE series continued Sunday as we examined what stands in the way of us truly experiencing the transcendence for which we were created. In a nutshell, the answer is sin. Sin is not a popular word in today's society. As soon as I began talking about it yesterday, I could sense people's tension. Sin is the ultimate shrink-wrap that shrinks the size of our life down to the size of our life. God and others then get squeezed out.

Here's another interesting perspective sent to me about our shrink-wrapped lives. Shrink-wrap also has the unfortunate ability to isolate people from each other in addition to keeping them isolated from God. In our best moments we are on this journey together. Not having grace to free us from this isolation is perhaps the biggest tragedy.

What do you see as the biggest tragedy associated with our shrink-wrapped kingdoms of one?

Guest Blog: Nancy Jumper vs. the Prayer Path

I signed myself up for a slot in CrossPointe’s Prayer Path experience, and arrived at my appointed time with two family members. We thought we’d enter at the same time so as not to mess up the schedule. We were told that it would be a much better experience if we staggered our entry by 10 min each to make it personal. However, instead of accepting and enjoying that, it became a chief focus of distraction.

My frustration about us entering separately was all I thought about as I started through the labyrinth. The peaceful voice on the “Path Tour Guide CD” became the voice of my siren. The more she beckoned me with her silky voice to “relax and let go of the noise of distraction in my head” the more agitated I became that others were entering, but not the last of my party. By the time I got to Station #3 – where I was prompted to tightly hold a pebble in my fist, attach my cares and worries to it, then symbolically lay those in Jesus’ lap by releasing the pebble to float into a bucket of water – I realized I couldn't do it! I defiantly shoved the pebble in my pocket and carried on to the next station. At each stop the CD’s mesmerizing music, peaceful voice, and impactful activity got nothing from me but snotty responses and harried glances around the room to see if my son had finally entered.

About Station #5, I saw him enter and reverently start his journey at Station #1. This calmed my heart as I completed that stop, and I realized I needed to go back now to #3 and drop the pebble. I went to the bucket of water and tried to drop the pebble…but again failed. Still too much static in my head! Although I knew I was tainting my experience…I wasn’t yet able to let go. Off I went to continue with Station #6 – Communion. To sit on a pillow in God’s presence and prepare myself for the sacrament of communion in grateful recognition of his son’s broken body and spilled blood only magnified my inner conflict over the pebble.

I sat there a long time wrestling with myself, with Him…and with that blasted pleasant voice on the CD! I needed a reason to let go! I needed a justification! After a while, God whispered to me that there was no reason or justification in his love and sacrifice for me, he just wanted to do it. Whoa! The velvety-voiced CD lady couldn’t have said it better. When I finally came to the point of WANTING to let go, His Holy Spirit did the rest and took the angst from my heart and head. I had a lovely communion and got up to continue.

I knew my first stop had to be to go back to the afore-dreaded Station #3 and get that pebble out of my pocket and into Jesus’ lap. And this time… Success! I revisited a couple more stations as well…then moved through the maze actually engaging in what God had intended for me at each stop. Near the end I was prompted to look at myself in a mirror, take note of the image I saw, then try to grasp what God sees when he looks at me.

I found it was unexpectedly uncomfortable to stand and look at myself as I tried to think about what God saw, so I leaned to the side. When I did this, I realized that the image now in the mirror was of others around me going through The Prayer Path. I was seeing the life that was happening all around me. Stunned, I realized that is one image God sees when he looks at me. He sees the people and circumstances all around me, and how He can impact them through me.

And so when I left, I realized I’d fought the battle of the noise in my head against the experience of the prayer path. I also realized this is a familiar battle that I fight every minute of every day. Although not always accompanied by a CD directing my steps and not always victorious; I am convinced that as I fight these skirmishes, the Holy Spirit works as a knight-in-shining-armor dispatching my dragons.

Thanks for the profound reminder.

--Nancy Jumper

Fortune Cookie Faith - One Week Later

A week ago, I shared with everyone about the lessons I learned from Hebrews 11:1. Among the thoughts I shared was a translation of the first phrase, "Now we know that faith is the substance of things hoped for". In contemporary context, it might read like this:

Faith is the confident trust in God that provides the bedrock upon which our hopes are founded.

I also shared with you about the difference between a hope (a desire with an expectation that it will come to pass) and a wish (a desire that is deemed unattainable), and how those might look in the context of our faith journey.

One week later, how has this played out in your spiritual journey? Do you view faith in a different way than you did a week earlier. Did it clarify? Did it confuse?

Share.

This Thursday and Friday Only

You have the opportunity this Thursday evening or Friday during the day to experience the Prayer Path.

Pause for a moment and consider your surroundings. What do you hear? The hum of the fan on your computer? Coworkers talking? It doesn't feel much like Holy Week.

As you read this, there is a labrynth set up at Crosspointe. A prayer path. A chance to pull away and let go of all of the things that run through the mind.

Stress. Worry. Guilt. Fear. The grocery list. Did I remember to feed the dog? (Yeah. They all get equal billing in my brain.)

Three years ago when I went through it, I wasn't sure what to expect.

We walked in. Took off our shoes. Twelve stations. A headset with a CD. I pushed "play."

Nothing prepared me for what God did in me. I didn't even know I had stuff to let go of. By the time I had completed the twelve stations, Easter suddenly seemed so real. I'm not talking about the historical event of it. I'm talking about changes in my soul. There's so much stuff that we carry with us every day. (Way more than the grocery list and the dogs.) The prayer path was an opportunity to let that stuff go. A time for Jesus Christ to be real and present in my soul.

As a blog post, this falls short in describing the beauty of it. There are a few more spots left if you want to go through it. E-mail Kylie and David and grab one.

More

We began our new series Sunday entitled ONE. The tag line to this series is that you and I were never meant to be little kings and queens ruling our tiny little kingdom of ONE. As our band so beautifully rocked for us on Sunday, "we were meant to live for so much more." This desire to be part of something bigger and more profound than our own existence was instilled in us by God. Unfortunately, we often settle to live within our own little kingdoms and never experience the transcendent life that God offers. What holds you back from pursuing more in your life? Why do we tend to settle for less when God offers us so much more?

Life by the Moment

We spoke this morning about the importance of living life by the moment. Each of has millions if not billions of moments in our lives. Among those moments are those few life-changing moments. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could learn to identify the life-changing moments from the ordinary moments? How would our lives be different if we were able to do just that? What challenge do you face as try to treat every moment of our lives as the gift they are from God?

Maximum Potential

Our focus today was on the final part of our vision statement: Thru imaginative design create relational learning environments and strategic missional partnerships to move everyone toward their full potential in Christ. In order to reach our full potential in Christ we must have a concentrated focus in our lives. A focus on recapturing our passion, a focus on owning the process and a focus on moving from stewing to doing. Which of those focuses is most difficult for you and why? Which is the simplist and why?

Multisensory Communion

What are your thoughts on yesterday's multisensory communion gathering?

Taking Another Look

After God created the first man, God quickly concluded, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Have you ever wondered what exactly was that aloneness? After all, even before Eve, Adam wasn’t the only being in the garden. There were the animals and God himself was there. God must have meant that the man should not be the only one of his species. Adam needed someone to identify with in his humanity.

But here's the wrinkle. We commonly read these words as though God meant "It is not good for the man to be lonely." The biblical translators steer us here by substituting the word "man" where the text originally says "him." Hearing it that way justifies our pursuit of friendships and partners to quell our loneliness. And in a sense, we're right. We were not created for a solitary existence. I wonder if the translators haven't done us a disservice in their translation that causes us to miss part of the impact of what God said. What if what God meant was that it was not good for him, for God himself, for the man to be the only one. It does not suit God's purposes for a person to exist in isolation from others.

How might this alternate interpretation change how we view relationships and relational learning environments? What is your gut response to what you learned on Sunday?

Imagination and the Imago Dei

Week three of our pure, fresh and simple approach to church centered on the first three words of our vision statement, "Thru imaginative design create relational learning environments and strategic missional partnerships to move everyone toward their full potential in Christ." My approach was simple: support the idea from the Scriptures and tie it to our mission of loving God, loving others and living out loud.

We are imaginative because creativity is part of the Imago Dei (image of God) in each of us. Just as God named and then separated as part of the creation process, so Adam named and separated the animals. It was perhaps the first right brain, left brain activity. Right brain (creative) naming the animals and left brain (analytical) separating things like the 52,000 different beetles God created into categories.

The beautiful tie to our mission statement is that in the Great Commandment we are told to love God with all of our heart, our soul and our mind. The word Jesus used for mind is often translated imagination. It refers directly to the right side of our brain rather than the left side (a different word in the original language.

I'm interested in your reaction to what you heard? How do you respond to imaginative ministry design? Is it exciting to you, terrify you or something in between? How might it play into your desire to invest and invite people to join our faith journey?

P=MV2

This past Sunday, Pastor Dave shared a simple equation...or not so simple if physics isn't your thing:

P = MV2; momentum equals mass times velocity squared.

Momentum is what gives us impact; in our case, impact within our community.

Mass refers not to size or volume, but rather weight and density. One of our BHAG's is to double our worship attendance; not for the sake of increasing our volume/size, but to give more weight to what we do, to create a greater impact.

Velocity, as Pastor Dave shared, is speed with direction. In our case the direction is our vision statement:

Thru imaginative design create relational learning environments and strategic Missional partnerships to lead everyone to their full potential in Christ.

So the question of the week is: If our vision provides the direction for velocity, what provides the speed?

Thoughts anyone?

Pure, Fresh and Simple

Pure, fresh and simple are in. AquaFina knows this. Papa John’s knows this. Apple knows this. Today I shared with you how Jesus set the example of how the church should be pure, fresh, and simple. He condensed all of the law and the work of the church into two statements: the Great Commandment, and the Great Commission. These are reflected in our mission statement: “To move everyone toward loving God, loving others and living out loud.” In reflecting on the mission statement, which do you feel will be the most difficult for you in 2008: loving God, loving others, or living out loud (fulfilling the Great Commission).?