Freely Give

Twenty years ago today I began serving at New Covenant Bible Church as Pastor of Discipling Ministries. That was a long time ago! I had just turned 40. Ryan was entering 4th grade, Jason 2nd grade and Josh and Jon were three years old! I won't tell you how old Sharon was. She was young!

A lot of things have changed over the past 20 years. New Covenant is relocating to a new facility. All four of my boys have graduated from college. Three are married and Jon and Trista have a wedding date set for October 22.

To celebrate my 20 Anniversary, I want to help finance a drilling rig for Zimbabwe. You can read more about it here. $165,000 would purchase the rig and fund the drilling of 20 wells. We are partnering with the Mushayamunda Christian Development Foundation. This is a ministry sponsored by Dennis Matangira and his family. Dennis is from Zimbabwe and attends New Covenant.

MCDF works with 20 schools that represents over 10,000 children! Only five of these schools have a well and clean drinking water! The first priority will be to drill wells for the 15 schools that don't have accessibility to clean water.

In addition, over 100 villages and other schools have contacted MCDF to help them drill wells so that they can have access to fresh water. Each well will be drilled and given in Jesus name. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate the good works and the good news of the gospel.

God has been good to me and my family over the past 20 years. I'm thankful for His faithfulness and provision. During the next 20 years, if I'm fortunate enough to live that long, I want to give back to others who have less. I want to leverage all that God has given to me for the kingdom. I want to invest my finances, influence, skills and time into things that will have eternal value.

This fall, I want to provide clean drinking water for villages and schools in Zimbabwe. On Sunday, October 30 I will be hosting a party and gathering at New Covenant from 3:00-5:00 PM for those who would like to join me in making a financial contribution to this Well Drilling Project. Save the date! More information will be coming.

I hope you will join me in giving thanks to God for His many blessings. And I hope too that you will give generously so that others can have clean water in Jesus name. Freely we have received, let's freely give.

What If

Sharon and I met with Doug Forret, Don Purdy and Dennis Matangira this morning to talk about the dream we have of purchasing a drilling rig for Mushayamunda Christian Development Foundation.

This is rough draft/sneak peak of what we are thinking and praying about. It's pretty crazy but we're asking God for $165,00 to fund this project so we can drill 20 wells a year and provide clean drinking water for villages and schools that go without.

This month I celebrate 20 years of service at New Covenant. I'm making plans to invite my friends to join me in helping make this dream a reality!

What if we could share what we have to give to those who go without? What if we could help empower villages in Zimbabwe to better care for their own? What if we could provide water for drinking, sanitation, gardening and hygiene? What if we could offer hope and help to entire schools and villages? What if we could do all this in the name of Jesus so that His kingdom and purposes are advanced? What if ....

Big Gulp

Watch the video above and then watch the one below that tells how it was made. Quite amazing! It's the world's largest stop-motion animation ever shot. All shot with a Nokia N8 phone.

The Call: Seekers Sought

I'm blogging some of my favorite quotes from The Call by Os Guinness. These come from chapter 2, Seekers Sought.

"Love seeks out the seeker - not because the seeker is worthy of love but simply because love's nature is to love regardless of the worthiness or merit of the one loved.""

"First, the way of agape says, 'By all means desire, but think carefully about what you love and what you desire.' Those who follow eros are not wrong to desire happiness but wrong to think that happiness is to be found where they seek it. Incomplete in ourselves, we desire what we think is beckoning to complete us."

"Second, the way of agape parts company with the way of eros over the means of the search. We cannot find God without God. Our seeking will always fall short unless God's grace initiates the search and unless God's call draws us to him and completes the search."

"If we are to desire the highest good, the highest good must come down and draw us so that it may become a reality we desire. From this perspective, there is no merit in seeking or finding. All is grace. The secret of seeking is not in our human ascent to God, but in God's descent to us."

"We start out searching, but we end up being discovered. We think we are looking for something; we realize we are found by Someone.What brings us home is not our discovery of the way home but the call of the Father who has been waiting there for us all along, whose presence there makes home home."

Rachel's Dream

Everyone has a dream. A hope or desire that provides motivation and energy. A reason to get up in the morning. Something to live for.

Rachel Beckwith dreamed about providing clean drinking water to those who don't have access to this basic necessity. She set a goal of raising $300 through her own charity:water web page, encouraging people to give to this cause instead of gifts for her 9th birthday.

Then on June 9th Rachel and her family were in a tragic auto accident. Rachel died but her dream has lived on. To date, over $750,000 has been given in Rachel's name through her charity:water web page. You can watch the CBS news story and read about it here.

Several months ago I blogged about Scott Harrison, the founder of charity:water and his dream of providing clean, safe drinking water to the one billion people on the planet who lack access.

Rachel learned about charity:water through her church, Eastlake Community Church. She dreamed about leveraging her birthday for the benefit of others. Her modest $300 goal has been multiplied several thousand times over!

Os Guinness in his book, The Call, talks about living life with purpose and intention. 

"Count the cost, consider the risks, and set out each day on a venture to multiply your gifts and opportunities and bring glory to God and add value to our world. Answering the call is the road to purpose and fulfillment in your life."

I'm dreaming about purchasing a drilling rig to help provide clean drinking water in the name of Jesus in the country of Zimbabwe. Lives and entire villages can be changed through the simple gift of a well. The good works and the good news of the gospel demonstrated and declared!

So, what are you dreaming about? Is it big enough? Does it inspire others to action? Does it add value to our world? Will it bring glory to God?

The Call: The Ultimate Why

I'm blogging some of my favorite quotes from The Call by Os Guinness. These come from chapter 1, The Ultimate Why.

"Out of more than a score of great civilizations in human history, modern Western civilization is the very first to have no agreed-on answer to the question of the purpose of life. Thus more ignorance, confusion - and longing - surround this topic now than at almost any time in history. The trouble is that, as modern people, we have too much to live with and too little to live for. Some feel that they have time but not enough money; others feel that they have money but not enough time. But for most of us, in the midst of material plenty, we have spiritual poverty."

"Answering the call of our Creator is 'the ultimate why' for living, the highest source of purpose in human existence."

"Calling begins and ends such ages, and lives, of faith by placing the final aim of life beyond the world where it was meant to be. Answering the call is the way to find and fulfill the central purpose of your life."

The Call

The Call by Os Guinness is an incredible book. I read it about seven years ago and have recommended it to many people. I have said that The Call should be must reading for every young adult.

This summer Jon is living at home while he works on partner development in preparation for going on staff with The Navigators. We have decided to read the book and discuss it together. Sharon even ordered her own copy so as to not miss out on any of the fun!

I plan to blog some of the content from each chapter as we move through the book. The Call has 26 chapters so it will take a while.

Here is a quote from the Introduction:

"From this perspective, the final reality is neither chance nor an impersonal ground of being but an infinite personal God who has created us in his image and calls you into relationship with himself. Our life-purpose therefore comes from two sources at once - who we are created to be and who we are called to be.

Count the cost, consider the risks, and set out each day on a venture to multiply your gifts and opportunities and bring glory to God and add value to our world. Answering the call is the road to purpose and fulfillment in your life."