Losing Life

Another Reason I Love Kansas City

Looks what grows in my yard:

Ball Girl for Jesus

I want to go above and beyond my role.  I want to attempt the impossible even when the professionals have given up on it.  I want to be in the right place at the right time.  I want to always be ready to give it my all.  And then when something amazing happens, I want to go sit back in my intended spot as if to say "ahhh, no big deal..."  Yep, I want to be a ball girl for Jesus.

God introduces Mitchell to Jackson

I am quite sure that God smiled today as Mitchell and Jackson played.  I keep thinking about how we think we have to "do" so much in order to please God, and today, I think God just wanted Mitchell and Jackson to enjoy each other, to have fun, to PLAY.  I imagine when I have two friends that I know would enjoy knowing one another, and when they finally meet, I am so delighted.  That must be what God felt today when he saw Mitch and Jackson play.

Message from Troy in Haiti

At 7:30am this morning we boarded a plane in For Lauderdale, FL and headed to the adventure of a lifetime.  By 2pm we had entered the brave world of Les Cayes, Haiti.

After an amazing lunch of chicken, shrimp, conk, and goat along with red beans, rice and plantains, we headed to the community of Cambry.  Here we visited the very first orphanage built by C3 missions just 4 years ago.  It stared with just a handful of orphans and now over 200 are housed, loved and cared for on this one piece of God's property.  It was here that Jake, Mitch and myself fell in love with our first Haitian kids, Vivian, Robbinson, and Geoffty. Jake and Geoffty  developed a bond that was supernatural.  I can't wait to see what stories will unfold tomorrow. 

What is happening in Haiti is amazing.  By the end of 2008, over 1,000 orphans will have a home in Haiti because of C3 missions and El Shaddai Ministries.  I will write more about this amazing group of church planters tomorrow. 

Time to Crash for the day.

^{The above pics and message was sent to me by Troy via Blackberry today....enjoy!}

My Boys in Haiti

 Troy, Jake and Mitch are in Haiti today.  They just arrived Les Cayes.  They had goat, conk and fried plantains for lunch.  Everyone is doing fine. I am asking God to speak to my boys hearts.  I am asking God to show them the poeple who are close to His heart.  Thanks for all of you who are praying for the McMahon's in Haiti.  And a special thanks to my small group and others who helped make this trip possible for them.  I am so grateful that they are having this experience.

The Emotional Roller Coaster - Part 1

At the exponential conference last month I talked about the emotional roller coaster of church planting.  When I first began preparing for the talk, the idea was to get OFF the emotional roller coaster.  When I finally got to presenting this talk, the idea was to stay ON the coaster and enjoy the ride.

Life is emotional.  The only way to get off is to stop doing anything significant, scary, or risk taking.  When we get off, we are left standing on the sidelines, watching others while they experience the thrill of the ride. 

We are emotional creatures, created in the image of God who I also believe is emotional.

If we are not feeling emotions I think there could be one of several things going on:

• We are denying
• We are avoiding  - using stuff to manage our emotions (food is my favorite emotional elixir)
• We are playing life WAY TO SAFE
• We are dead

Is God Emotional?

If someone says, "you are so emotional" would you consider this a compliment? 

Leadership Community

So what gets me out of bed the first Saturday of every month for the last 12 years?   Leadership Community - a gathering of local church leaders who are being mobilized to change the world.

As best I can estimate, I have been to somewhere around 146 Leadership Communities.

Around 144 of these were at Community Christian Church.  The last 2 have been at Restore Community Church  I am 95% sure that without the first 144, there would not have been the last 2. 

See here's the thing, Leadership Community did these things for Troy and I:

• Challenged us to become leaders for the Kingdom
• Helped us to see a vision for our lives that was greater then what we could do on our own
• Developed our leadership skills
• Helped us to grow spiritually

I expect to attend at least 240 more leadership communities at Restore Community Church.  Please join me...but be careful, it is not for the faint of heart, it can be dangerous.

Here is Leadership Community November 2007, our Restore team being prayed over and commissioned by the leaders of Community Christian:

Taste of Small Groups

Everything's a competition.  Today, we had our "taste" of small groups. Every small group brought their favorite snack and shared with the whole church.  Of course, it soon became an "our snacks are better then your snacks" competition.  One group took it over the top, brought a grill and started grilling up hot dogs outside.

It was a BLAST....I am so proud of my leaders who will do anything to help others find a place of connection.

The Big ASK

If you have ever been the leader of a volunteer team, you have probably had moments when you said, "I just need more people."   And then you wonder why is no one joining the team? 

Time to make the ASK.  Making a successful ask for people to join your team of volunteers begins in your head long before you form the words with your mouth.  Start by changing your thinking from exclusive to inclusive.   

Exclusive Thinking:  Stuff we think that keeps us "in" and others "out"

• Being on the team is a burden
• A person cannot be on the team because....(saying "no" for someone before we even invite them in)
• Being on the team is mostly about getting the job done.
• How few people do we need to get the job done?

Inclusive Thinking:  Stuff we think that allows everyone to join the team

• Being on the team adds value to someone's life
• If a person cannot be on the team, they will tell me no (instead of us saying "no" for them before we even ask)
• Being on the team is mostly about building relationships
• How many people can we include?

Now go make the ASK.  I am quite sure that when you do, you will make someone's day by inviting them onto the team.