BLeach

Wow!

Just gave a big hug to my friend and fellow church planter David Okai. 

I've posted about David before.  His life is really an inspiration.  He started Resurrection and Life in February.  It's a new church targeting West African immigrants.  They meet in our building.

David has been here since December away from his family.  This morning his wife and kids met with the embassy in Ghana and were granted their visas.  Soon after David went to the airport and purchased their tickets.  They'll be arriving August 10 so we're planning a party at the airport to welcome them all to their new home!

Most of you probably don't know David.  If you did then I'm telling you that this news would make you want to either shed a tear, let out a shout or do a little dance.  So just trust me on this one and go ahead and bust a move:)

Dream Relationships

Yesterday Jeff Leake made the trip from Pittsburgh to Detroit along with Andy (one of his staff members).  We've been brainstorming for a few months about some ideas for connecting young church planters.  God is using Jeff to raise and release young guys who are called to pioneer.  In fact, his story of mothering churches out of his church in Allison Park was one of the primary influencers in how my dream for Church of the King took shape. 

We spent several hours together yesterday and dreamed about winning cities for Jesus by launching networks of church planting movements.  Every now and then you meet someone who has been down the road you're walking.  Jeff is one of those guys for me. 

13 months ago, we started Origin Ministries as the tool for planting our first daughter church.  Since The Oaks launched at Easter God has been shaping a picture in my mind for how Origin will develop in the future into a strategy that will allow us to fill Metro Detroit with new church plants. 

At breakfast I shared the Origin dream with Jeff.  His heart is connected to it.  I'm not sure exactly where our relationship will lead on this.  All I know is that our hearts seem to beat with the same values. 

God-given dreams are interesting things.  They seem to take shape over time, becoming clearer through strategic relationships.  I was in junior high when God first gave me a dream to impact a city.  The details and pictures have come together little by little over the last 14 years, often through people God purposefully brought into my life.  For me, strategic relationships have been the fuel that have caused my church planting dream to progress.

Jeff is one of those guys in my life.  His friendship has already impacted several things I've done. 

I think there's alot more to come.

We'll be launching one of the key components of Origin's development in the fall.  More details to come on that very soon:)

The Slurpee Saga

The slurpee saga continues. 

It started when I stopped into 7-eleven on July 11 (7-eleven's birthday), only to discover that my local 7-eleven had discontinued their slurpee giveaways.  How does that happen on July 11? 

A few days later one of my friends informed me that David Letterman had made a deal with 7-eleven.  With renewed hope I decided to give the story by my house another shot.  Apparently these particular employees don't watch David Letterman.

I haven't seen the show in awhile, but I'm guessing that Letterman must have talked about the slurpee deal again last night (can anyone who saw the show confirm this)? 

All I know is that my blog is currently the number one google hit for anyone searching "7-eleven letterman."  This morning from midnight until 3.00 am hits were off the charts:)

So this is an official welcome to all you slurpee lovers out there!  Has anyone found a store that's actually doing this thing?

Remember Me?

Remember Ken Jennings?  He's the really smart guy who won over 2 million dollars during his 74 game win streak on Jeopardy.  Well, he's doing his best to stay in the limelight.

Now that his trivia run is over, it seems he's staying in the news by poking some fun at everyone's favorite game show.

Never mind that without Jeopardy ken-jennings.com would possibly be getting fewer hits than the site your on right now.

By the way, I knew there was something fishy about Alex Trabek:)

Road Rage

Can't wait to try this one:)


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A Tribute

Joy Derington began attending our church about 3 years ago.  It didn't take her long to engage in ministry.  She served in several areas, but she was passionate for teenagers.  She taught our high school girls.  She helped us start a Sunday night youth service.  And she spent hours behind the scenes praying over their lives.

She was an MVP. 

11 months ago Joy was diagnosed with cancer.  She fought through to remission.  Then earlier this year she was diagnosed again. 

Her faith the last few months inspired our church.  Her cancer was aggressive, but so was her faith.  Her cancer spread, but so did her faith.  Visits with her had a tendency to turn into worship services.  When she didn't have words to say she always had a song to sing.

Thursday night at about 10.00 pm I stopped by hospice to say hello.  Joy was in a drug induced coma and her breathing was strained and heavy.  6 hours later she slipped from time into eternity while her niece read to her from the Song of Solomon.  The specific reference she was reading when Joy died was Song of Solomon 2.10.

My lover spoke and said to me, "Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me."

Joy was torn the past few months.  She desperately wanted to see Jesus but struggled saying goodbye to Brian, Adam and Nolan.  So she fought.  She fought until she heard the voice of Jesus call to her. 

Come home now.

Joy's death was precious, just like her life.

Today I had the honor to officiate her funeral service.   Over 200 people crowded into a chapel with about half that many chairs.  They came from the automotive business she worked for.  They came from the hockey league her boys played for.  They came from the youth groups she worked for.  They came to honor a gem.

Church of the King will miss Joy Derington, but we'll continue to tell her story.  As the youth ministry grows, new students will hear about the fantastic woman of faith who loved teenagers and believed in their potential.  They'll hear about one middle-aged warrior-woman who ran hard all the way through the finish line. 

Joy lived well. 

Joy died well.

On behalf of those whose lives are better for it, I say "Thanks."

Weekend Reflections

Friday morning I woke up with a plan for the weekend.  Little did I know...

I've been scheduled for several months to spend this past Friday through Monday with a one year old church plant near Grand Rapids.  I met the planters a year ago at a church planting conference I spoke at.  Keith and Judy Hemila are a couple in their mid 50's who felt the Holy Spirit drawing them into a new challenge.  They launched Crossfire Ministries last summer and have seen the church grow to over 100. 

Friday night I spoke at their inaugural youth group service and challenged about 10 teenagers to ask God for visions of the future. 

Saturday morning I spent about 3 hours with 25 of their leaders on some church planting teaching. 

Originally I was scheduled to stay through and speak at their Sunday morning outdoor service, but after scheduling the ministry trip a wedding was planned (a few months ago) and a funeral came up (a few days ago). 

Saturday afternoon the interns and I drove home.  I went straight to a wedding, and straight from the wedding to meet with Joy Derington's family.  Talk about some contrast...

From a church plant, to a wedding, to a funeral...

Beginning

Ending

Remembering

Dreaming

Losing

Sunday morning we left early to get back to Grand Rapids for Crossfire's morning service.  God gave me an interesting teaching on grace and about 5 people ended up getting baptized.  After the service we drove straight back to Metro Detroit and I went to the funeral home.  I'm just now catching my breath after all the funeral activities today.

Weekends like this remind me how great Jesus was to send the Holy Spirit:)  I really think Paul forgot a gift at the end of his list in 1 Corinthians 12.  He forgot the gift of energy!

Finding Your Life After Losing Your Job

This past Sunday I shared a teaching at our church that God placed in my heart in June.  The title was Finding Your Life After Losing Your Job.

Michigan currently ranks 48 in unemployment in the country.  Metro Detroit, where our church is, has felt the impact in a unique way.  The Motor City depends on GM, Ford and Chrysler (the big three) for thousands of jobs.  In the last few years the big three has lost 12% of their market share.  That means that about one million fewer cars are being made every year.  That translates to thousands of jobs not only with the automakers directly, but in dozens of spinnoff industries that depend on the big three to produce work. 

In Jeremiah 29, Jeremiah sent a letter to the Jewish exiles in Babylon.  In the letter he encouraged them to work for the prosperity of Babylon.  His point was that as long as you're there, if Babylon prospers, you prosper. 

The church doesn't exist in a vacuum.  Every church has a context.  That context is its community.  I guess that's why I felt some urgency to offer a spiritual perspective on job loss.  We have a responsibility to do our best to influence the sagging economy in our city.

This week I've received really positive feedback on the message from people who are currently out of work.

Here's a link to the teaching.

Hopefully it can provide some inspiration to you or someone you know. 

Jon Kitna on Faith

I'm a few days late in posting this, but on Sunday I came across a great story in the Detroit Free Press talking about how Jon Kitna met Jesus Christ.  For those of you who don't know, the Detroit Lions signed Kitna as a free agent this past off-season.

Read the article here.

Props to the Free Press for writing such a positive piece.  The article talks about Kitna's life before Christ, and how it's changed since he crossed the line of faith.  It even explains his convictions to tithe and share Christ in the locker room.  Very cool.

This may be the most important thing to happen to the Lions in a long time.  As a life-long fan of the honololu blue and silver, I understand there is a curse on Lion's quarterbacks.  Maybe Jon Kitna has the faith to break the curse:) 

Congrats Dad!

Had a great time this afternoon walking around the Senior Player's Championship in Dearborn with my dad.  His schedule is crazy, even crazier in the summer, but he has always made father-son time a priority over ministry. 

We spent most of the afternoon following Gil Morgan and Don Pooley.  Both of them will be in the hunt tomorrow.

Walking around with the Senior Tour Pros was good timing today.  My dad was the silver medalist last week in the three day Michigan Senior Olympics.  Just don't ask him about the 2 other how many people he had to compete with:) 

In case you're wondering, the above picture was not taken in Dearborn.