Dreams Unlocked

Today at church a friend of mine, Doug Weber spoke. Doug works on Capitol Hill in Washington DC in a ministry there. It sounds pretty important, and it probably is. Doug spoke on doubting Thomas, who he thinks we should rename "Honest Thomas", because he was honest. One thing I picked up on today that I hadn't noticed before was that the other disciples had seen Jesus, but Thomas hadn't. They tell Thomas they saw him. Thomas retorts with, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.”  In other words - sorry guys, your testimony isn't good enough. YOu aren't credible witnesses to me. How would you feel if someone questioned your experience? They had ALL seen Jesus - they all told Thomas the same thing. But, Thomas doesn't believe them - and in fact demands experiential proof of Jesus' existence by actually seeing and touching the pierced body of J...

The story of Naaman is found in the Bible in 2 Kings ch. 5. Naaman had it all: success, power, wealth and a good reputation. At the end of 2 Kings 5:1 we read: He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. BUT HE HAD LEPROSY With the hanging physical descriptor, virtually all his other success are moot and void. Naaman had external success, but was internally dying. His life was being slowly destroyed by a malignant, persistent and tiny bacteria that will not stop until his life has fallen apart. America is Naaman. America worships external cosmetics, while her internal strength is being destroyed by a lack of moral fortitude and character. Naaman's story shows us the reality of pain and trauma in our lives. We might achieve a lot of external success - but, we have leprosy - we have some lingering inner pain. Something that keeps us from joy. The first step is accept the reality of our pain. The primal source of all pain of all of humanity is sin. Si...

Last night after the conference Me and leaders from Bethel Grove. Back in Ithaca after 2 days at the Willow Creek Leadership Summit in Syracuse. Unbelievable time of teaching and inspiration. I hope to be able to bring our entire leadership team to this event next year. It was so challenging to me as a leader and is forcing me to ask some serious questions about myself and my ministry - and how I am doing things. I hope to carve out some time early next week to get away and process, pray and journal out some things - especially in relation to the upcoming season of ministry. Today, there was again an incredible variety of speakers who hit on some important themes related to leadership: influence, innovation, vulnerability. It is hard to pinpoint a highlight - but it has become clear to me that leadership development has to become a priority at our church. One of the areas, I'd like to see us develop is in the college students that attend our church - the brig...

Me and one of my favorite leaders. I am in Syracuse New York. A group of leaders from the church and I are attending the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit. This is an incredibly large event that makes the United Nations look like a city council of a small town. 170 000 attendees in 101 countries in 42 languages! The main event is in suburban Chicago - but the leveraging of technology sends it out all over the world - including central New York, where I am. The folks from our church are a music prof. from Ithaca College and a couple who work for InterVarsity at Cornell. I have never attended the Leadership Summit, but have always wanted to. My only regret now is not attending sooner! What an amazing day. Today's speakers included: Bill Hybels Colin Powell Mark Burnett - the guy who has produced Survivor, Apprentice, The Voice and Shark Tank. Patrick Lencioni - most likely the best consultant to corporations alive today. All in all it was quite a stunn...

Kids enjoying birthday cake in the new house. 4 months into this adventure of social adjustment to life in Ithaca New York. So far, so good. The first week was hard because we didn't have any of our stuff and felt destitute, despite having a house to live in and clothes to wear, and food to eat - we just didn't have OUR STUFF. 2 months in, both Felicia and I went through a sharp Vancouver withdrawal as we reminisced about our favorite restaurants, the natural beauty, the myriad of activities available to kids and the general buzz of living in a big city. That withdrawal lasted about 2 weeks, and then it passed and Ithaca began to feel more and more like home. And now, we have moved into a newly purchased house - on my birthday! And it is a nice house, a comfortable house in a nice neighborhood. Some days when I am driving home and the sky is blue and the lawns appear extra green and I spot my patriotic neighbors American flag waving proudly, I feel like I am ...