Need for self disclosure

So here are the facts.

I added a counter to my blog to see how many people have visited it, well will visit it. And to make myself feel better, I started it at 7000. It just feels better than zero.

I now have the following accounts:

Myspace
xanga
facebook

Although I just use them to add comments, don't try and find me and "poke me" (I think that is face book I was afraid to try it) because I can hardly remember my user names and passwords much less check for messages.

Sorry for the long Blogs I am against long blogs but somehow sometimes you have to share, even though no one will read it because it is too long.

Shine on,
Tim

More challenging stuff and some fun videos

There are a number of organizations that help build wells in Africa. My favorite is www.bloodwatermission.com here are some stats on how our money can help them build wells. You wont believe how much it costs to change someones life.

For $1 you can provide one year of clean water for one African.

For $7 you can provide a lifetime of clean water for one African

For $3000 you can provide enough money to build a well and provide clean water to an entire community including Hospitals and Schools.

Can you believe that. $1 can provide water for one African for a year. I spend more than that to buy one bottle of water.

I love this because it is a very reachable goal. The 20 billion goal from the last post seamed unreachable and most people would just say "well the rich are going to have to do this". Or we might pray, "Dear Baby Jesus", help the people in Africa get clean water. Well I have good news for us as well as Africa, God has a plan. That's right God has a plan to end this water problem.

It is us, we are the plan, there is no plan B, we are the plan. We are it. If he wanted to he could provide clean springs or water from rocks, but that is not his plan. He desperately wants to use you and me to impact the world. We should be honored that God has trusted his resources with us so that we can use them for his good.

Here are some more figures.

In 1970 the United nations set a target for all developed nations that would make a huge dent in the amount of aid available to issues like water. They suggested that governments give 0.7% of what they make each year. not much, huh? Sadly, virtually all members of the united nations are a long way from that target. - from a book called God's Gravity by Craig Borlase.

Genessa and I have been challenged by this number. 0.7% we would probably never notice two or three times that much if it were missing from our budget. So we have taken this number literally and we are going to set aside money every week to help provide water in Africa.

And for those of you who really know Genessa and I when God asks for something from us we do it and not only that, but we always go the extra 3/10th's of a percent (that was a math joke). So we are going to give 1% to this type of cause.

If you make $700 a month, every month you would give $7, which would translate to a lifetime of water for someone. Wouldn't it be great to know that you changed someones life.

Here is my next big idea. we have all seen the Wendy's commercials were the guy is getting his car fixed and the mechanic says, "that will be 300 frostys". They translate dollars to their dollar menu. $1 = biggie fries or $1 = 5 crispy chicken nuggets.

So what if we started talking in terms of water for Africa. "coke= 2 years of water for an African", or "ipod= 230 years of water for an African" or my new "cell phone=79 years of water for an African - 50 years of water for an African mail-in rebate= 29 years of water for an African"

Would this change the way we think about the things we "have to have". Or perhaps it would help us to be more considerate of others and that we must use our resources because they are a gift from God.

So the big idea. I need all you influential people who read my blog to help me with this. What if we could get McDonald's and other fast food company's to add a "$1 year of water for an African" to their value menu. I believe that there are a number of people who would get on board for this type of thing. It only cost one dollar and they can make a difference. Plus it is readily available, you can donate on your lunch brake, or on your way to pick up the kids from school.

Additional ideas might be a retailer like Walmart having a special section for products that will agree to donate $1 for every product purchased. Company's like Phillips electronics could make some fancy electronic candles and when we buy them they provide water for Africa. I know I would spend my time in that section of Walmart to buy my Christmas gifts if given the option.

And for those of you who think Josh and I went on the spiritual trip soley full of learning, praying and Fasting. A meca of sorts check out these two videos the first is our world record attempt of the most people in a Pillow Fight (some 10,000 people). The second video is of the national dogball champions (who are also youth ministers) taking on a crowd of 10,000 with little red rubber balls.

$7 that is all it takes to change a life.

Shine on,
Tim

God Bless America

I find it difficult to make short posts on these things that I am becoming more and more passionate about. Sorry.

These Ideas are more thoughts from Catalyst as well as from a video by Rob Bell called Rich.

When you hear the phrase God Bless America, what do you think? Do you think yes, please Lord bless us, help us to be able to find food tomorrow, help us not to get sick for the water we drink and help my kids not to be killed on the way to school.

Maybe that was a bit extreme, but hasn't God already blessed America? In the bible when God blessed people it was so that they could bless others and give some of it away. I think we are long overdue to give. Here are some statistics (according to Rob Bell) about how rich we in America are.

"America is 6% of the worlds population and yet we consume more than 40% of the world's resources."

"Only 8% of the people in the world have a car" When was the last time that you knew someone who had no car at all. We have three.

How much change do you have in your pocket, I had $0.52 not counting the bills in my wallet. "1 billion people in the world live on less than $1 a day"

"800 Million people won't eat today" I just had a rice crispy treat and when I run out, I will just go to Walmart and get more.

Here is the thing that I really wanted to talk about. "1 billion people in the world have no access to clean water". We take this for granted, if there were a more severe level of taking something for granted I think water would be in that level.

The thing that I keep thinking about are the people in parts of Africa where water is so scarce and disease specifically AIDS run wild. People have the choice of walking around 10 miles to get clean water or drinking out of a mud puddle, or a river that is also the town sewer. This only further helps the spread of disease.

"Experts say that it would cost 20 Billion dollars to provide food and nutrition to all of the hurting people around the world, This is the same amount that Americans spend on ice cream every year"

So what do you think, Has God Blessed America? And if so, what are we going to do about it?

I have probably raised more questions than answers here. My next post will highlight what we each can do to help.

Shine on,
Tim

Lighthouses in the Light

As I try and wrap my mind around some of the things that I learned or that impacted me at Catalyst, I always come back to this one idea. It is a quote from Rob Bell, in one of the Catalyst podcasts.

from memory
"If a church were to be instantly removed from their community, would anyone outside of the church morn (or miss) the church"

The idea is that churches are not reaching out enough to their community, and I also take that to mean the world. If we have no impact on the people around us then it suddenly becomes about us and not what we are called to do which is GO.

Donald Miller put it like this. "He said we are like lighthouses in the light." nobody looks for a lighthouse in the light, nor could anyone find one unless they were on some kind of tour of lighthouses. We are called to be lighthouses in the dark were people are hurting and need a savior.

Sure a couple of people will come to a church because they need it, but the rest of the culture thinks that churches hate them and they receive more love from the drug dealers and bars.

I am not saying that we need to be handing out bibles in bars and the like, but we do need to be loving on these people. Without somekind of relationship, our evangalism is useless.

What does all this mean to me? Genessa and I are going to be doing some very specific things with some of our money to make a global impact (be looking for this blog). As leaders at Keypoint we have the opportunity to change the way NWA feels about churches and Jesus. We are going to begin to develop ideas to reach out to the people of NWA.

Yesterday when I was talking with the staff at KPC about Catalyst and this idea. It sounded great. All we had to do was decide that we wanted to do it and the rest would be down hill. Today it sounds hard, real hard, maybe a lonely road, hard to measure success and draining. But it is also what we feel called to do, I don't want to be anywhere other than where God has called me to be.

Shine on,
Tim

Sleepless in Springdale

So....some of you may also have been wondering how I am getting along in my first time ever sleeping away from my husband. Well, I guess just the fact that I am blogging must say something about the time on my hands.

So, I just have one question .....Ladies, why is it that when our husbands are gone we can't seem to get any sleep? I mean, its just sleeping....right? When he is here it's not like I wake up 8 times and make sure that he is still there. So, why is it any different when he's gone? It's more like I am waking up to make sure that he hasn't magically reappeared while I was sleeping. Just wondering what you think.

One other interesting and pleasant thing I discovered is that I have not talked to my husband on the phone for more than 15 minutes or so at a time since before we were married. So, it was really nice to talk to him on the phone and have him tell me about his entire day. It kind of felt like dating again!

One more point...I noticed that if I lived alone, my house would always be clean and the bed would always be made! However.........I would never have any fun and I would be a REALLY boring person. My husband is my motivator as well as my best friend!

So, what I am trying to say is......3 nights is way too many for the first time and I am ready for him to come home.

Jesus Loves Porn Stars?

Say what.

Catalyst is over and my notebook is full of wonderfull ideas to impact our church, community and the world for the Kingdom. I plan on posting some of my thoughts and ideas but I first want to gather my thoughts and let them brew like a fine glass of tea.

So for now I will focus on the more controversial issues.

There is a ministry that I have heard about called xxxChurch.com these guys have a ministry focused on two things, ministering to the porn industry and helping people shake the addiction of porn.

They literally go to porn shows and set up a table and talk with people in the industry. Recently they started passing out Bibles with the logo "Jesus loves porn stars". They are able to go into a mission field that most people wouldn't even think about going into. By the way they all take their wife's with them when they go to the porn shows.

here is a story about a guy they helped get out of the porn industry.

Donny's Week #1

Donny posted this on his blog...Check it out! It's now been almost a week since I've given up porn to surrender my life to God again. And what a week it's been. Several people have been supportive. Others... not so...
+ READ THE FULL STORY...

Another thing that these guys are doing is helping people like you and me from being tempted to visit porn sites. They do this with accountability software. The way it works is you set up someone as your accountability partner and any questionable websites that you view are sent in an email to the person you set up as your accountability partner.

I first heard of this idea at promise keepers. I thought it was a great idea but it cost $20 for every copy so you and your A. Partner would have to shell out $20 each. That is to much, if they wanted to really help people and not make a buck, they would give it away.

Which is what these guys did.

In fact, last year at Catalyst they gave out over 9,000 copies of their accountability software. Sadly, less than 100 people actually installed the software. According to xxxchurch, around 50% of pastors admit to viewing porn in the last year. This is a problem and I think they have a good solution.

I am going to install the software on my computer and encourage each of you to do the same it is free at www.x3watch.com and is available for both mac and pc.

Let me know what you think.

Sorry for the long blog.

I just realized that the blogger spell checker doesn't recognise the word "blog".

I challenge anyone to use the word "porn" more times on your blog than I have here. (11 not counting the picture)

Shine on,

What canal???

Okay, some of you may be wondering what it is like to have a root canal. Actually, most likely you aren't. However, since I have now experienced one I figure that I will share.

So, if you think that getting drugged up, holding your mouth open for two hours while a strange man places a "rubber dam" over your mouth and sticks 6 different sized drills in your mouth to grind away at the only part of your tooth that actually has feeling, Then root canals are for you! By the way, I definitely recommend valium for such an experience! Here is a link that gives an account of the typical root canal. Warning...it has pictures!

http://www.healthyteeth.org/cavities/rc_2.html

I don't know any catchy titles with Atlanta in them

In just a couple of hours I am leaving to go to Atlanta, GA. Josh and I are going to be going to the Cataylst Conference on Thursday and Friday. I am very excited about the conference this year. It is for leaders of churches. speakers include but not limited to:













It is going to be great.

In addition to the conference, we are going to visit the coca-cola world. Apparently Coke was first served in a soda shop kinda place in Atlanta. there is also a whitte castle in the world of coke, I have always wanted to try white castle.

We are going to go to Mellow Mushroom pizza, which is suppost to be a really good pizza place.

Josh is always raving about Chipotle so I assume we will be making a trip. It is some kind of burrito place kind of like Moe's "welcome to moe's".

This may not be a good time to mention that I am trying to loose a little weight. Or at least try not to gain anymore than I have in my resent sedentary lifestyle.

Here is my call to action. If you know of something worth doing (especially if it doesn't involve eating) let me know. I will try and check my blog here and there. But if it is an uber sweet idea you may need to e-mailme about it.

Shine on,
Tim