Archives for May 2007

To keep things running with the travel theme I thought I would blog some of my people watching as I sit at the airport in Denver right now. Airports intrigue me. I love the culture, the variety, and the oddity of the airport. For instance, right now I’m sitting at a lounge with a bar nearby and there is a young woman at the bar that has been there long enough to talk two different guys’ ears off. Am I eavesdropping? Yes. I am. It’s in my nature I guess – I’m curious!

Anyway, this young woman has said exactly the same thing to each of these two guys and they are just smiling and nodding as she jibs (as in jib-jab) these guys to death. It reminds me of one of the things I heard listening to the Roxburgh Journal Podcast on the way out to Denver. Alan Roxburgh interviews a missional church-planter named Pernell Goodyear about one of the chief aspects of the Gospel that we need to preach and live is community. People are craving community. They want someone to listen to them, anyone to listen to them! Even if they aren’t really listening, this young woman is case in point. What does it look like to live missionally in such way where the community that our hurt and dieing world is longing for being lived out in a real and vibrant way? The Church needs to respond to this. As I listened to the interview with Pernell Goodyear I realized that programs and events won’t address it, but getting out there and getting our hands “dirty” where the people are, like this lounge at the airport.
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So I am in the midst of packing and throwing away stuff! Sounds fun, huh? I’m trying to get as much of my stuff as I can out of my parent’s house and at the same time figure out what I will need to ship to Prague come the end of the summer. Yes, I’m packing for the “big move” 3 months in advance! But anyway, as I was going through some books and I found this week’s quote of the week written on scrap piece of paper!

God is preparing His heroes and when opportunity comes, He can fit them into their place in a moment and the world will wonder where they came from. – A.B. Simpson

I’m not sure where I found this quote some years ago, but it’s good! So here is the question that will accompany this week’s quote, “What do you feel God is preparing you for? Where might he insert you in a moment?” Respond away. For other quotes of the week, click here and here.

So I’m drinking a campfire mocha at Caribou Coffee in Lake Geneva, WI before heading over to Covenant Harbor to speak at Young Life and I stumbled across a video about Hulk Hogan’s faith! Pastor Ed Young interviews the Hulk for a new series he’s doing at his church. Growing up and being a child of the 80s I am somewhat of a Hulk fan. So it was fun to hear about his faith! I hope you enjoy the video!

I’ve really enjoyed Mark Batterson’s Blog – Evotional.com – over the past couple of weeks since a friend brought him up. Recently, Mark traveled to Rome with his wife (not a bad gig!) and he has blogged on it a bit, but what I enjoyed most of Mark’s post-trip blog posts was his thoughts/insights on A Theology of Travel. Being an individual who travels a fair amount (and loves it!) I really enjoyed this post, here is a portion:

Long before Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden, God told them to fill the earth. It was an invitation to explore His creation! Think about it. Everything outside Eden was terra incognita–unknown territory. Planet Earth was untamed, uninhabited, undiscovered. They could travel 24,859 miles in any direction and discover mountains and deserts and jungles and oceans. There was 196,949,970 square miles to explore. God’s creation. Humankind’s playground.

I can’t agree more with Mark’s insights. As I’ve had the opportunity to travel I found that I have a deeper appreciation and a larger picture of who God is! There is something about playing in creation and interacting with people who are very different from you and I, but still created in the image of God, that blows my view of a little God up! Czech out the rest of the blog post, click here.

Tonight I have been bumming around the internet and I’ve found some interesting numbers. It would seem that as I near my return to Prague come the end of the summer God is placing some interesting desires, visions and etc. in/on my heart/soul/mind. Since I felt God calling me to Prague long-term, one of the questions in my mind was, “How can I best be used to build the Church in Czech and Europe at large?” The answer that has resounded in my heart is work with Athletes in Action. But beyond that I see myself being part of church planting and pastoring. I don’t want to get into too much of this in this post, but do be praying that God would focus in on what He is doing with this in my life in the days, months, and years ahead.

Anyway, read this interesting study about the spiritual condition of Europe:

Europe is both the most Christian and the least Christian place in the world today. According to this study, 72.7% of Europeans would label themselves as Christians. Does this mean that more than 2/3 of Europeans are following Jesus Christ and are concerned about the people around them? The answer is a resounding no, no, no, no, no. According to this study, only 4.2% of Europeans follow Jesus and are actively concerned about the people around them following Jesus. While most of the world has a church for at least every 5000 people, this study estimates that there is only one Gospel Oriented church for every 27749 people in Europe.

Is there a hope for Europe? The study goes on to estimate that if given a clear and relevant presentation of the Gospel, only 3.8% of Europeans would begin to follow Jesus and join a church. To make matters even worse, the rate of church planting is estimated to be moderate to poor- about one new church planted for every three hundred existing churches.

Interesting, huh? I’ve been in so many discussions as of late with people about how we CANNOT forget Europe! I am an “equal opportunity” guy when it comes to the Nations. God’s heart beats for every tribe, tongue and nation; therefore, I, we, must be an “equal opportunity” people when it comes to the Nations! It would seem that the American Church has narrowed its scope to something other than “every“! May God stir in hearts in Europe! For more information about this study, Czech out the European Spiritual Estimate site. Praying for a Revolution in Europe!

So I like birthdays because it means I can get a new book or two! (I really love books!) One of the “birthday books” I got is Piper’s book, What Jesus Demands from the World. Here is a quote that spoke to me as I thought about my life prior to knowing Christ:

Look away from yourself. Seek from God what He alone can do for you. Moral improvement of the old you is not what you need. New life is what the whole world needs. It is radical and supernatural. It is outside our control. The dead do not give themselves new life. We must be born again – “not… of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). That is what Jesus demands of the world. (pg. 39)