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D'oh!

D'oh! The expression that captures what it means to regret what you said right after you said it!

Based on the Prodigal Son, I got to read Janelle's message before it went live. Here's the Big Idea as I see it:

"You can regret the mistakes you make but realize they taught you a lesson that you probably needed to learn."

The younger son in the story messed up big time!!! And he fully regretted what he did and went back to dad to do some major sucking up; begging for forgiveness. But, I can guarantee that he learned the most valuable lesson of his life. He needed his dad.

So tonight I am on the phone with a very old and dear friend who still likes me despite me being me. In the past I outright criticized this friend for a variety of reasons. Why did I criticize my friend? Duh, (which is not the same as d'oh) because I am obviously the expert on all subject matters (please note my tongue is squarely planted in my cheek).

Not with this friend, but at other times I am sure that my critical insights have had a degree of validity. Right? RIGHT? RIGHT! Unfortunately probably not with the frequency I would like to believe.

Do I regret what I said to my friend in the past? HECK YEAH!!! However, I did learn something I can take to the bank.

"Quite often the people I criticize turn out to be the best teachers on the subject matter I criticized them for in the first place!"

I thank God for all my friends who have tolerated my "well meaning" criticism and still choose to call me friend.Yeah, I still need them.

3 Weeks 3 Sermons 1 Text

If I were a pastor in a church that follows the lectionary. I would preach on the Prodigal Son (Luke 15) once every three years.  Which means if I really wanted to, once very three years I could recycle an old message that the congregation had not heard in a while. Even if I wrote a brand new sermon every three years, after nine years I would have only preached on the text three times.

What may have taken nine years in another church I've had to do in three weeks! Three different sermons in three weeks on the same text. Which I confess ... I thought we would be impossible. I was wrong. The beauty of going through this story is that each week God reveals another layer of the human condition.

The first week we talked about how the human condition sometimes results in us getting lost. Sometimes we lose sight of God because because we had no choice (the coin). Sometimes we get lost because we had no idea we were wandering away from God (the sheep). And sometime we intentionally get lost because we believe we do not need God (the younger son).

The second week we explored how the human condition fights to be right and avoids being wrong. Being right does not increase God’s love for you. Being wrong does not decrease God’s love for you. Discovering God’s love is not about being right or wrong, but about discovering the humility that leads us home to God who loves us regardless of we’re right or wrong.

And this week we explored how the human condition makes it hard to be grateful. I challenged everyone to intentionally work towards cultivating a grateful heart by naming what they are grateful for. Saying thank you to someone (especially God) out loud. And learning to be grateful for the imperfect things, like your spouse or your body.

This sermons series has blessed me and challenged me to go deeper into God's word. I hope it has done the same for you.

Chimoio Mozambique: It's All About Building Relationships

 
Sometimes the Holy Spirit places a need or concern on the hearts of more than one person. When the collective energy, passion, and gifts of those people converge the result is a trans-formative and sustainable ministry.

It happens with the Garage Sale Team. Jim & Lynne Sherman (and countless others) come together every spring and generate nearly $30,000 a year towards mission and ministries.

It happens with the Celebration! Clinic every fall when Cheryl Hayes and her team lead hundreds of servant hearts in serving the under-resourced in our community with material goods and with hope and kindness.

And it is the same Spirit of the Living God that has formed a relationship that is establishing the foundation for our Africa Mission in Chimoio, Mozambique. 

In February of 2009, Our Saviour's made their first trip to the village of Chimoio, Mozambique. Lane Lewis, Judi Schultz, Pastor Tom and James Baker, a friend of Pastor Tom's formed the Our Saviour's team. The goal of the trip was to seek a potential partnership, a relationship-to-relationship model that is part of the Our Saviour's Africa Mission Team's vision. God's Spirit led us to a committed humanitarian ministry called "Vida Humana" and its visionary director Misheck Ruah. Vida Humana is a program helping men, women, and children struggling with HIV/AIDS. The program provides spiritual support, grows its own food through a garden project, and delivers the food and medication to infected members. It also helps transport infected patients to the clinic when possible and trains people to do home health care visits. The aim of this program is to make its members strong and healthy enough to return to a "normal" life in society and to offer the spiritual gift of mercy and caring to those who are dying.
The relationships formed between Misheck, James, Pastor Mark, and others on the team, centered on the need to care for people with HIV/AIDS. This is another way Our Saviour's responds to God's calling to love ones neighbor as ones self. And, putting our love into action is exactly why folks on the Africa Mission Team interviewed James Baker to be contracted as our "Mission Advocate" in Chomoio, working side-by-side with Misheck and the Vida Humana ministry.
Some people have asked what we will do in Mozambique? We must wait to answer that question until Vida Humana and James Baker have input in those decisions. We will not walk over our African brothers and sisters telling them what to do.  We will walk with our African brothers and sisters, hand in hand and side by side in a spirit of accompaniment.

In the end, I believe that this will be a mutually beneficial relationship between Our Saviour's and Vida Humana. I believe we will learn from each other. I believe God will teach us. Our overall vision for this mission is that through this mutual relationship, the powerful ministry of Vida Humana shines even brighter, demonstrating heroic servant hearts by treating people with HIV/AIDS, giving dignity to lives, and offering hope.

We just keep building our Africa Mission one relationship at a time.

The Church Responds

Since the time the earthquake hit Haiti, I have been encouraged by the world's response.

• Major League Baseball has committed $1,000,000.
   
• World Vision has 800 staff on the ground.
   
• Lutheran World Relief has committed $1,000,000.
   
• Thrivent Financial for Lutherans will match members' gifts to LWR for Haiti response.
   
• ELCA Disaster response has committed $250,00 with the possibility of $500,000 more.

Regardless of your faith or denomination affiliation, I encourage you to find a way to give. Below are just a few of the ways in which you can help.

• ELCA Disaster Response or Lutheran World Relief.
   
• World Vision
   
• The Red Cross

And of course, continue to pray for our brothers and sisters serving and suffering in Haiti.

Not Tall, But Determined!

I stumbled into youth ministry at Our Saviour's and it has turned out to be one of the best parts of my job. Primarily because of the incredibly gifted cool kids I get to meet and hand out with. One of those kids is Jennie Halper; a freshman at Augustana in Rock Island. She's not tall, but she is determined ... determined to make a difference in the world. While many kids go to college and look for the next party, Jennie went to college and looked for the next cause. Her latest efforts to make a difference revolves around kids, dancing, and hospitals.

Jennie says, "Basically I'm doing a dance marathon where we raise money for local childrens hospitals, and we spend time with the kids playing games, and just dancing."

If you would like to help one of the Our Saviour's kids make a difference (her goal is to raise $200), click here.

Way to go Jennie!

"I don't know when I have been so moved by the various speakers"

Here are just a few of the many positive conference attendee responses:

• "I don't know when I have been so moved by the various speakers."

• "Came away with valuable insight - consistent among the speakers. Loud and clear message."

Click here to see how our attendees rated the conference. 

The conference purpose was to "educate, inspire, and equip people to take a first or next step into Africa ministries." To determine if we accomplished our goal, here's a brief list of what has happened since the conference.

• Our Saviour's High School students are in the preliminary planning stages of a trip to Africa to visit Viola Vaughn.
   
• Rumor has it our C.A.R.E. Moms are considering going to visit Africa to visit Viola Vaughn.
   
• A team is currently being formed to "get a person on the ground" in Mozambique.
   
• Our current refugee ministry had close to 20 people attend the "Refugees Among Us" forums with the intent of building a refugee ministry team.
   
• Our Saviour's is hosting a micro-finance conversation next week ar Celebration.
   
• I will be meeting with some empty-nester moms who do NOT attend our church to explore their next steps developing an Africa ministry in their neighborhoods.
   
• ELCA Global Missions has asked to host the April Global Mission Formation event at Our Saviour's. 
• The next Our Saviour's Daddy Daughter Dance to raise money for the water project in Derre Mozambique is being planned.

Regret Avoidance

We had our last planning meeting for The Africa Summit Monday night. It goes without saying that the planning team is excited. But as we were finalizing last minute details, I stopped the conversation and said to everyone, "Next week a lot of people are going to regret they did not come to the Summit." I don't think there has been or ever will be an experience like this again for a long time. The conference's laser focused vision, the faculty of speakers, and the creative elements are second to none; competing with conferences that have triple the budget. If nothing has motivated you up to this point to attend, adopt an attitude of "regret avoidance" and come to the Summit. Because I can and because I feel it is important you're there, I invite you to be my guest. Register at www.theafricasummit.org and use GUEST09 as the discount code when prompted to save on registration fees. I will warn you though, discovering you have a heart for Africa could be life transforming. But I promise you won't regret it.

Has to be God!

It has been an amazing 15 months preparing for the upcoming Africa Summit. Month after month, I have felt the hand of God working in such a visible and tangible way. The presence of the Spirit has never felt stronger than it has the past two weeks.

• Budget deficits were replaced with a resource surplus that allowed us to bring in a second speaker from Africa.
   
• A record number of website hits in one day.
   
• Churches in the area are volunteering to advertise the Summit at their cost!
   
• One exhibitor even donated an "in demand" gift for the first 150 participants. (No ... Apple is not an exhibitors and no ... participants are not getting free iPhones.)

In fact, we feel so blessed by what God has done, we've extended the $50 early bird price until September 14th. Our goal is to create the space where as many as possible are educated, inspired, and equipped to take a first or next step into Africa ministries.

Would love to meet you! Register today.