Speaking of hero’s (see post below)… One of my ministry hero’s is a friend named Brian Jones.  Brian is the Pastor of Christ’s Church of the Valley outside of Philadelphia.  Our connection is years old as we met over a decade ago.  I can’t tell you how many church planting things we have been at together over the years.  Brian is not only a great Pastor and leader but he is also a gifted writer.  His most recent book captured my eye and before I could pick one up he sent me an early copy to read.

The book is called Getting Rid  of the Gorilla and it is one of the best books I have read in the last year.  It really was one of those “can’t put it down” books.  I think all of us struggle with the issue of forgiving those who have hurt us and Brian has woven not only the reasons why forgiveness is a challenge but also the way through it.  If  forgiving someone in your world seems out of reach or out of the question it would do your spirit good to pick up this book.  Visit any Christian bookstore or Amazon.  it’s worth it!

Sometimes I feel like having a blog is like having a dog.  You have to feed it to keep it alive.  Same with a blog I guess.  There never seems to be enough time to post all that is on your mind or what you’d like to write about therefore I find myself paralyzed to the point of doing nothing.  But since I enjoy this kind of communication I will prevail.  Actually the last couple of days has been a bit challenging for me as I was transitioning to a new laptop.  So don’t think I’m a total blog loser.  I’ve got some friends that post almost every day.  You’re my hero’s!

I’ve been remiss to write any words about the GUM sponsored Cinco De Mayo celebration in Bolingbrook. Though the clouds were thick, the wind cold, and the drizzle a little bothersome it was still a great day. The attendance was affected quite a bit but God was there and it was a lot of fun. One of my favorite parts… Elotes: sweet corn dipped in butter, coated with mayo, parmesan cheese chili powder and a spray of lime. O my! I took a lot of great pictures if you want to see any of them. Just let me know.

I’ve been out of town for a couple of days, but I have been watching with sadness and prayer the horrifying problems that the people in Myanmar (Burma) are facing. On May the 3rd, the country suffered devastating losses when Cyclone Nargis came ashore along the densely populated, rice farming delta of the Irrawaddy Delta. News reports state that there are over 23,000 deaths, over 60,000 people still missing and that the death toll could reach as high as 100,000. How horrible! Just recently, the country is allowing Aid planes and supplies to land- yet they are refusing assistance from the US. I feel a sense of connection to this land as my family have deep friendships with many many missionaries in this part of the world. The Morse family who have faithfully served in SE Asia for decades spent a great amount of time and ministry in Burma. In fact the Morses are still very much a part of the Jesus work in that region. Please join me in praying for the them and for the people in Myanmar. May Christ bring peace and blessing to those who are in great distress right now!

One of the sessions that I led (with a little help from some Westbrook staff) at the Exponential National New Church Conference late last month was entitled Unique Challenges in Pursuit of the Dream.  My task was to share some of the interesting, challenging and sometimes frustrating challenges that seem to be inherent  with planting and building a Multi-ethnic church.  See below for just a birds eye look at some of the most common ones we at Westbrook have faced.

1.  Societal Stigma~  Planting and developing a multi-ethnic church intentionally is not going to come without it’s fair share of people who think it’s just plan wrong.  When you do this long enough there will be a stigma that comes with it.  Some will think that you are just trying to please others, that you are attempting to be politically correct and even prejudice.

2.  Dealing With Critics and Those Who Misunderstand~ What critics and those who misunderstand the multi-racial church must do is be challenged to consider the words of the late Benjamin Mays, president of Morehouse College quoted in the book, “United by Faith” who stated,

A true Christian who believes in the fatherhood of God, the lordship of Jesus Christ, the brotherhood of man, and the dignity of every person and who believes that the church is God’s house cannot deny membership to Christian nor deny membership to one of the same faith. If Islam can admit all races to the mosque and if atheistic communism can embrace all races in its fellowship without segregation, certainly the Christian can do the same in his(or her) church, and it is wholly within his power to do so.

3.  Communicating Passion and Value to the Body~  We certainly applaud those who seek to revitalize churches around this paradigm, those who seek to transform their churches to model and especially to those who intentionally plant church to be multi-ethnic.  The bottom line however is that no matter where you are in the continuum you still have to be faithful to communicate the value that you hold to this work.  In other words… you have to continually prime the well of the “get it factor.”

4.  Dealing With the Hard Work to Make it Appealing to All~  Not everyone will like what you do, they may or may not share your vision.  And even if they seem to be OK with the vision they may or may not like your approach in fulfilling your vision.  They may not like the music you select, the illustrations you use or the videos you select.  It’s a constant challenge to think through the appeal issue.

5.  Finding the Right Personnel~ Recruiting and setting into place the right people is a challenge for any church staff, but especially so in the Multi-ethnic arena.  While you need to process the big 3… competency, character and chemistry… you also have to find a person who shares your vision for multi-ethnic ministry.

Now we know that there are surely many more, this is just a list of some that we are chewing through.  If you are reading this and you’d like to comment or even add some of your unique challenges please let us know.

I’m back in the groove of the Westbrook life but I am still processing the amazing experience called Exponential 08. Even as I process it, so are hundreds of others and it looks like the bulk of the people who attended enjoyed it as much as we did. An evaluation survey was sent out to all of those who attended and nearly every area that was surveyed is receiving high marks.

So much of this conference was super. It was a blessing to be a part of putting the Multi-ethnic track together. My track partners (Mark DeYmaz, George Yancey, Linnea Carnes and Jim Spoonts) were great. An added bonus was having our new friend Ed Lee from Houston pop in for a couple of sessions. In addition it was great to meet and listen to Efrem Smith from Minneapolis, MN. Efrem was actually the conference emcee but when I met him he graciously accepted an invitation to share some some thoughts in one session. Efren talked about the intentionality that is necessary to plant and grow a healthy multi-ethnic church. I’m even advocating that he has a space on the main stage next year not as an emcee but as a speaker.

Another really cool aspect of this trip is that we were able to bring several of our staff guys down for the week. Usually I will bring one or two guys with me but this year I was joined by Rob Daniel, Amado Lobatos, Chris DiNaso, Rick Marcum, Dave Fischer and Dave Rudin. As I led a session on the Unique Challenges in the Pursuit of Building a Multi-Ethnic church I had Rob, Rick and Amado join me for a portion of the session. I’m plan to blog about that session later on today

We hung out, enjoyed the time away, had some deep conversations and even enjoyed a couple of fun hours at the Magic Kingdom thanks to the generosity of Pastor Rob’s brother who works for the “Mouse”. Actually ESPN - who is a part of Disney. Thanks Ken for the free Disney tickets.

We all learned so much about Reproducing churches, heard some great messages from Andy Stanley, Dave Ferguson, Tim Keller and Rick Warren. We were blessed and are planning on sharing these blessings as we serve Christ everyday.