I took a few days off from this site as I have been enjoying the Holidays with my family.  On Christmas eve we drove to see my folks and siblings for a few days and even if I had wanted to I couldn’t have posted anything since they don’t have internet access and there’s not a Starbucks in town with Wifi.  It’s been a super few days.  My family was only interrupted by  a few days of sermon writing.  I certainly hope your holidays were the same and that you are ready for what God has in store for you in 2009.

Warms my heart~

O yea! The Bears just blocked a last second field goal attempt. Overtime. The fans and refs are dying though! It’s stinkin cold in Chicago. Thank you Jesus for a warm house, nice fireplace, family watching the game, and ready for Christmas.

In the ongoing fulfillment of the Great Commission at Westbrook~ as well as the ongoing passion to be a multi-ethnic church, we are preparing to start another Ethnic congregation.  I’m not sure when God will have us do this, but our vision includes an Indian church.  To learn the ropes a bit, I am blessed to serve on a management team with Orchard Group Church Planting in NYC as they prepare to a plant an Indian church concentrated in and around Yonkers , NY.

Did you know that Indians are the 2nd largest immigrant group in the US second only to people from Mexico?  The Orchard Group went to India to locate a church planter and his name is C.T. Abraham.  I was blessed to meet him recently and to spend time with him.  I think it is so amazing how for decades American churches sent missionaries to foreign lands to evangelize the people.  Now it is so much more effective for nationals to come to our land to evangelize their own  people.  The US is such a huge mission field.  Please join me in prayer for C.T. and the work in New York City as well as our efforts to do this same work in Chicagoland.

Even as we pray, I want Westbrook (and me) to be continually educating ourselves about the Indian culture, ministry needs and challenges.  Earlier this year I was invited to travel to India (Kerala State) to speak and share in a missions ministry there.  So on January 12-24 my son Tyler and I will be spending time in India with PV Alexander.  I will be speaking several times in the course of the week and Tyler plans to spend time at the large 200 bed hospital and medical ministry that they have.  Tyler is planning to enter Cornerstone University this fall where he will be studying Biology and seeking God’s will about possibly becoming a Missionary Doctor.  Please pray for us as well as prepare to make this journey.  I will be writing more about this trip in the days to come.

Here’s a good one: Ten secular atheists are suing Kentucky’s office of Homeland Security for thanking “Almighty God” for protecting the state from terrorists.  These Kentuckians charge that a law requiring the office to show it’s gratitude to God is ‘breathtakingly unconstitutional.”  The plaintiffs say they have suffered “anxiety” from realizing that “their very safety as residents of Kentucky may be in the hands of fanatics, traitors, or fools.” (The Week - December 12, 2008)

If I remember my scripture right, I seem to remember it saying something like  there will come a day when every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as Lord.  I can only pray that these misguided souls come to a point of true realization before it’s too late.

* It is stinkin cold in Chicagoland this weekend. Thank you God for a heater that works. Please God, keep those who don’t have heat safe.

* Thanksgiving brought so many blessings. One of them has blown Christie and I away. Tyler recieved a full tuition scholarship from Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, MI. O my goodness. Thank you God.

* Fall soccer with the boys is over and only Reid is playing in an indoor league this winter. That makes for some very relaxing Saturdays. I even got to shop a bit yesterday afternoon. Escaped the last minute shopping rush.

* The spirit was alive at Westbrook this morning. The place was packed out in the 2nd & 3rd hours. First service was light… maybe that’s because of the cold. It was so amazing to worship with the amazing family of Westbrook. I hear that SM Velocity was lively this evening as well. PTL! A new Generation of musicians were born this AM also as a new KAWB (Kingdom Avenue Worship Band) led worship in KA.

* Finished up some Visa applications for a Mission Trip to India that Tyler and I will be on in January. I ‘ll talk more about this in the next few weeks.

* I am thrilled to be able to be with our entire staff tomorrow night for our annual Staff Christmas party.

* YEA! The Bears won big today

… But I’m grateful to serve alongside some great Elders at Westbrook Christian Church.  These men pictured with me are kind, compassionate, gracious, encouraging and on and on and on.  They lift me up when I am down and encourage me to stay in the battle for Jesus.  I am one blessed dude!

We have got so much to be Thankful for.  I am so filled up I can hardly stand it.

Pastor Rob Daniels is the speaker of the day at Westbrook as he completes our current sermon series called Tales Of Real Survival. In fact he’s cranking right now as I type in our 3rd service. The final message is all about the Apostle Paul as the ultimate survivor. Be sure to listen to the podcast of this message. When the worship time was over Pastor Rob challenged us to live out God’s plan for all of us and be ready to tell our tale of how God carried us through. Man, I am so THANKFUL for this guy!

One of the most missionally attractional ministries at Westbrook is GUM’s English as a Second Language program. The ESL program began as an outreach even before Gente Unida’s weekend services began. The concept was to begin a ministry that would encourage Latino or any non- English speaking people for that matter to get comfortable with Westbrook’s facility before we ever invited people to come to church. It seems that often people are leery of going to a new place until they are assured that they will feel comfortable there. That’s a true emotion with all people across the board so we have worked hard at making our facility a welcoming and warm place for our community so that that barrier might be broken down. Now, the concept of being “missional” implies going out to the people rather than having them always come to the facility. We get that~ but at the same time this program obviously needs a location to meet at. Westbrook’s facilities were designed for purposes such as this. This ministry is called the Center for Learning English and may even branch “out” into our communities as it grows. This fall in addition to our Monday and Wednesday AM classes a Tuesday evening session was added. The mission of meeting peoples needs is being fulfilled and God is certainly at work.