Blogs and Articles

The wood floors in our home had been lived on well for 18 years. They had witnessed the growth of our three children from pre-teens to married adults. They had felt the canes of aging parents and the pitter patter of our grandchildren’s early steps. Numerous pets had left their marks and the variety of things that have fallen on and been spilled on them is countless. They were well worn and needed to be repaired.

Avi Luskie taught me how to block. We played sandlot football in my neighborhood. Boys gathered at the “field” and we played tackle football on hard dirt. I was a tall, lanky, uncoordinated kid. I was often picked last. No matter. We were out to have fun. And fun we had. At the end of our street lived a 20something stud. “Avi” (short for Avner, I suspect) was a big strong athlete. As elementary age boys, we looked up to him, literally and metaphorically.

I felt a tug at my pant leg and the familiar voice of one of my sons asking me a question. Since I didn’t actually hear the whole question, I had to ask him to repeat it. That’s when my wife, Heidi, calmly chimed in with “Honey, he’s been trying to get your attention for 2 minutes.” Ouch. Guilty.

I’d been looking at my phone doing something I’m sure I thought was important at the time – and totally missed my son. Actually, I was missing my whole family – as I was either reading a news article, responding to an email or posting something on Twitter. All my son saw was that I thought my phone was more important than him.

I want to walk by “SIGHT”… I’m not proud of that fact. It’s uncomfortable to say it to others. Yet every now and then when I feel a knotted-up tension deep inside of myself, I know that’s what’s causing it. I want to SEE that the number in my bank account is sufficient for what’s ahead. I want to SEE that my hard work will be rewarded. I want to SEE that things are going to work out well in my kid’s stories. I want to SEE that several friends I am praying for will find healing, salvation, and reconciliation.

Joining Jesus on His mission doesn’t have to be complicated – it really just means living intentionally, with the heart of a missionary – and with the Gospel at the center of all that we do. A common fear and misconception is that missional means “additional”… Additional activities, appointments, responsibilities, serving opportunities… Filling up the calendar with more stuff. That perspective can easily start to feel like a heavy burden of duty that induces guilt, rather than a Gospel-centered lifestyle that results in purpose and joy.

Recently I was playing golf with a friend and as we were finishing the 14th hole, one of us (me) miss hit our approach shot to the green. The cart path went to the left of the green yet my ball was to the right, so we drove that way and discovered what appeared to be a shortcut around the green. We finished the hole, took the shortcut, and were proudly on our way.

I just returned from a week in Postdam, Germany spending time with our global partner, Steffen Weil, and his mittendrin team. (mittendrin means “in the center of it” in German, and is the name of their 4-yr old church plant located right in the center of the city). What a great week of listening, learning and gaining perspective on their vision to reach into their city with Gospel-influence over many sectors of culture – arts, medicine, education, athletics, small business, government, and beyond.

My wife Janet and I have a pretty incredible story (if I do say so myself!) of how we met, dated, courted and eventually got married. I’m still amazed at how God, in His providence, brought us together in a unique way where we both saw His good hand guiding our paths and circumstances to the place where we found ourselves committing to each other for a lifetime. In some ways, the story of how Janet and I originally connected back in college is a great illustration of the process each of us go through in our connection journey to just about anything of value. But more on that later…

Earlier this year I started what I called “Connection Conversations” with various leaders at Fellowship to introduce some new concepts to make it easier to connect at Fellowship. Some of these concepts are foundational biblical concepts and some are cultural concepts. Below is an introduction to one of the cultural concepts that we think will make Fellowship an easier place to connect. I’d like to extend this conversation to you. So, after reading this let me know what you think about this concept.

My father led me to faith in Christ when I was 8 years old. I believed that I had sinned and that I could not do enough good things to make myself right before a Holy God. The Bible says that the wages of my sin was death (Romans 6:23). I was spiritually separated from God. I understood that Christ came to earth to live the perfect life that I could not live and to die in my place. I placed my faith in the fact that He died for me and that He rose from the dead. I remember the freedom that I felt in knowing that my sins were forgiven.