chrismc

sunday is for inspiration

I love to be inspired. I was inspired this past week when volunteers came to spend three hours with kids they have never met before our after school program.

My wife and I have a Sunday ritual. We normally go to Ecclesia, the Sunday night service at WBC, put the kids down for bed, grab something to eat, and sit down on the couch and watch Extreme Home Makeover. We. Cry. Every. Time.. We are not inspired by the huge houses they build, sometime they are just ridiculous. We are inspired by the families they choose to be the recipients. Last week it was a family who adopted 5 (I think it was 5) kids from Haiti.

I often get inspired by something I see or read online. This week, I watched the video below and was inspired. It is a strange video. I have not taken time to read the history of it. But there is something unifying about this silly dance this guy does. It will put a smile on your face. I guess that alone is inspirational.

Anyway, I love to be inspired and I hope this video inspires you. Do you find it inspirational? Why?

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

week one - nearly completed

Well the first week is nearly done in the After School program. And it has been a great week. Each day has been a little smoother than the previous day. The kids are eager, and the volunteers have been having fun. Next week their are just two days of school and then a break. A time for volunteers and Lilia to catch their breath.

This Sunday we are having an open house 1pm-4pm at the Puente Offices. Should be lot's of fun.

and Puente launches! 11/17/08

The first day is going well so far.

puente del peublo pre-launch countdown

Tomorrow is the big day. Puente del Pueblo launches its After School program. We have already filled one classroom with 15 kids. It would seem we should easily fill another classroom soon. We are praying for a 2nd teacher to come alongside of us. We are all so excited. I am proud of the team. They have worked hard to make all of this happen. The last 14 days have been hectic. Tomorrow I will post some pictures of the first day.

sometimes you just need this

Been such a craazazzy week.

Had meetings with three of my teams this week. Hunger Team on Monday, we have delivered 7 tons of food in the last 24 months. That represents a lot of new relationships with the marginalized. Local Impact Team on Tuesday, created over 20 new mentor/big buddy relationships in the past 14 months. Our refugee teams have welcomed and loved families living in hell on earth from around the world. New. Relationships. The Gospel is being communicated. People are getting on their knees and asking for forgivness. People are joining our community.

Last night the CareFest team met and planned next years event. They are excited. Early this morning I met with four new churches to come on board with CareFest next spring. We could have over 15 churches serving all over DuPage. Relationships.

In 4 days we open the door to Puente del Pueblo. We have more referrals than we have room for already. But we will be there @ wegner school, eager servants ready to build relationships. We will love them. We hope they meet Jesus one day. Some will. All will be helped, regardless.

 

I saw this video this morning and it put a smile on my face. In the midst of all this work you forget to take a moment sometimes.

True Love – phil wickham

This song has been cranking on my ipod the last few runs I had. Love it.

why i love WBC

This is missions week at WBC. I heart missions week. On Tuesday at our monthly staff lunch we had a time to talk with some of our missionaries who are in town. I sat down with Leon and Beth who are Navigator staffers on the UofW Whitewater campus. Such a great couple.

It was fun to listen to each missionary speak about what they are doing, and learn a little of their story. So very inspirational. To me what sets WBC apart from so many churches, especially the ones that get a lot of attention for being innovative, for being hip, for their exciting senior pastor is that for 80+ years we have been committed to the cause of Christ around the World. We are not the most innovative, hippest and our Senior Pastor is not the most exciting. Sorry Rob, you are great! You know what I mean. You are not going to find a picture of Rob on the front page of the website, because it is not about that.

This year we will spend 1.8 million dollars on ministries outside the four walls of the church. There are hospitals, seminaries, AIDS education, AIDS hospices, and dozens of other ministries to the poorest of the poor because of this commitment. We will spend 1.8 million this year, and more next year, and more the year after that. Could we spend it on killer productions on Sunday morning? Could we spend it on an over the top children's and student ministries facility? Could we hire about 30 extra staff members to run some sort of ministry? Could we have a cafe the size of Chili's in our lobby? Yes. Of course. And we could come up with about 10 other things to spend that kind of money on.  But that is not what God has called us to do.

Twenty-five cents of every dollar given to the church goes directly to missions. We support almost 100 missionary families, which means we support 400+ people serving on every populated Continent.

Three years ago when I asked if I could take on Local Missions, I asked Rob what it would look like if we spent as much locally as we do globally? It will take us some time to get to 25% giving locally. But by the end of 2010 we could be investing close to $450,000 just in DuPage County. Wow. I am praying we get there and more.

We have gotten to this place because we have been focused, unwavering and firm in our commitment to God's word. This is why we see growth in new disciples each year, and why we see more people leave for the mission field each year.

gotta get back to my spanish

I need to return to the Rosetta Stone. This video is a fun reminder….

One semester of spanish

God has spoken

Perhaps you don't agree with Obama/Biden. But it is a historic day, and a good day for America in many ways. I will celebrate that tomorrow and the day Obama is inaugurated. Only history will tell if Obama becomes a great leader.

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except by God’s appointment, and the authorities that exist have been instituted by God. (Romans 13:1)

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? - election day

 

Acts 4:23-31

23On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:
   " 'Why do the nations rage
      and the peoples plot in vain?
26The kings of the earth take their stand
      and the rulers gather together
      against the Lord
      and against his Anointed One.^[c]'^[d] 27Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people^[e] of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."

31After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

 

So today is election day. I voted. I do believe we all should. But this year was different for me. It was the first time since I became old enough to vote that I was not excited. Not because I do not like the candidates, although I don’t like either. I really can’t find a ton to like about Obama or McCain. It seems to me we should not have to choose based on who will do the least harm. But that is really not why I am not excited.

I ask only one thing from our government. Allow us to live in peace. Pave roads, protect the citizenry, preserve freedom, yes all of that. But the government seems to think it ought to do that and a whole lot more. The government, republican controlled or democrat controlled will never come close to achieving the Mission God has given the church. I am disappointed in some of my brothers and sisters for putting so much faith in one candidate or another. I am not a republican or a democrat, no I belong to the party of the Lamb. I do not believe government is a friend of the church. Yes in our part of the world government tends to stay out of Church matters for the most part. But as America becomes increasingly secular so will our government.  That is neither good or bad it just is. I do not need nor want the governments help in accomplishing the Mission of God. The government ought not try to do what God has called His Church to do. We should not rely on the government to do what we ourselves are unwilling to do.  Instead I will rely solely on the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I believe if we are doing what we are called to do we will annoy our leaders both republican and democrat equally.

There is a lot of evidence in the Bible (Have you read the book of Acts lately?), and the world today that when the government actually stands against the church, the church grows. If you were at Worship here on Sunday you heard Mooi tell stories of how God has been working in China for the last 40 years to grow the church against brutal oppression. Yet here in the West when the church has so much power and resources, we seem to be shrinking. I believe the church must learn to speak truth to power no matter who is living in the White House. One way we know we are doing this enough is when they start beating us down! Acts 5:40 We ought to be making both republicans and democrats mad on a regular basis.

It certainly looks like Obama will win today. While for reasons I mentioned above I am not an Obama supporter (nor McCain!). I do see the historic significance of such a day, and I am proud of America. Not for electing a black person, but for making it even possible. I do not envy him. Because he is the first he carries so much pressure. There is much that can be approved upon from the past 4 administrations. Like every candidate I have seen all the way back to senior class president in High School, I am afraid Obama has made more promises than he can’t keep.

I have not read too much about the irony of the first black president coming from the same state as Lincoln. It is one of the weird quirky ironic things that happens in history.

No matter what happens, tomorrow about 50% of the country will be disappointed with the outcome. I pray our next leader shines. I hope he is everything he said he would be. If he is, he will be as equally hated as he is loved. That is life in America today. Hopefully we in the church can heed the words of Lincoln, and put the divisive nature of politics behind us.

I will end this post with a quote from Abe:

Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; each invokes His aid against the other. The prayers of both could not be answered... The Almighty has His own purposes." Knowing this, we treat each other charitably, and look to God for something better: "With malice toward none; with charity for all... to bind up the nation's wounds - to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."

solid day at puente del pueblo

On Saturday we had about a dozen or so people stop by to put the finishing touches on Puente. We finished the baseboards, deep cleaned places that might not have been cleaned in a couple of decades, and finished painting the ceilings. It looks like a professional, homey, warm place to come. Our team is going to love it.

 

favorite fall 2008 pics, so far...

These are a few of my favorites pics of the kids in the last few weeks.

Love these shots of Jack and Shay. They are not great shots, they are just barely out of focus. They were standing in the back of my truck as sun was setting. The light on their face is natural light peaking through the pine trees in our yard.
These two shots were taken on our mini-vacation to Door County earlier this month. We were playing in the leaves and just having a great time. Jack and Shay don't take too much time to take things in, but just for a moment each of them took a moment to look around. I love Jack looking up into the amazing colors that were over head.

As the kids get older, and with #3 coming in May, I have found myself having to really adjust the daily routine. Not there but mine. The pressure increases to be the dad they need and want each month. I feel like I am learning what that should look like but struggle with the balance it requires in my life. I plan on breaking some poor habits they are creeping into my routine. Mostly not enough quiet time, and not enough reading time.