The Journey Rocks!!

It's the day after Christmas and I am so excited! We still have one week to go on our Advent Conspiracy (we extended it one week b/c we had to cancel church on the 16th b/c of bad weather) and we have already collected over $3,500 for the Rwanda Clean Water Fund!! That means an entire village of 175 people will have access to clean water with the well this money will go to build. I love it when people come together for a common cause and do great things for those in need! I just feel like God is doing something significant in the lives of folks at The Journey. I just want to say thank you for being open and receptive to what God is doing in your lives and in our collective life. I know God will continue to work in us and among us as the new year begins. I am off to Houston for the rest of the week to officiate the wedding of a college buddy of mine. It will be great to reconnect with old friends, but I will miss you all at The Journey on Sunday. Until next time...

My First Time

I was sitting with Nick (Buck) in my office last week and we were trying to figure out what the heck to name this blog. Does it matter? Will more people read it if I have a really catchy name? Does anyone care what a bald pastor in his mid-thirties with bad knees has to say? Probably not, but that's the beauty of blogging. It's an avenue for us to dialog together about issues that really matter. This is about community.

There are some issues I will write about that I have strong feelings towards. Other things I will write just to create conversation. I am a people person by nature and would rather spend my time talking instead of typing, but this blog creates the opportunity for me (and you) to communicate with others we would otherwise never meet! So let's get started!!!!

This year at The Journey we are participating in the Advent Conspiracy. The A.C. is an initiative that challenges indiviudals to buy less during Christmas and to give more. With the money that we save from not buying as many gifts we are helping to build wells that will provide clean water for a village in Rwanda. The A.C. also calls on individuals to spend more meaningful time with those they love and to be more intentionally relational. This is one of those things that I read about and just knew we had to do as a church. The problem that I've found is that the A.C. is very easy to talk about and a lot harder to actually do. What do you do when you have kids who are used to getting a certain amount of presents and you tell them that you're cutting back this year, not because you have to - some children might understand that - but because you have chosen to? How do you communicate to them that just because you can afford something, that doesn't mean they're going to get it. It's difficult. It's complicated. It has to be done.

One thing that I don't do is guilt people into anything. I've never been very good at it. Ask my kids. But we have to be aware that other people depend on us. It's just the way the world works. There's nothing that I or anyone else can say as a representative of the church that carries any weight unless we are engaged in meeting the needs of God's children. End of story.

Soooo, having said that, I'm interested in hearing some creative ways that you have injected the spirit of the Advent Conspiracy into your life this holiday season. Please, enlighten us. Until next time...