I want to introduce you to Steve Murphy.  Steve is a great friend who is on staff at Seacoast Church in South Carolina.  He’s a video storyteller.  Here, he shares some of his thoughts on what he calls the ‘not yet’ story.  Here’s Steve….

I’ve been in ministry a long time.  In fact, I have been doing ‘church’ for more than half my life.  Early on, I was led to believe that every great story had to begin with something bad that was turned into something great.  That’s what made an amazing ‘testimony’.

I believe that God is a Redeemer and a Restorer.  I praise Him for that.  However, I’ve come to a place in my faith where I’m aware that not every story ends happily ever after.

I once heard a message by a guy named Blaine Hogan.  In his talk, Blaine asked, ‘Why is it that most of our stories feel more like propaganda than truth?’  

That’s me.  As a Christian video storyteller, I’ve been conditioned to only tell the stories that end with the hero winning, the damsel rescued, and the sinner saved.   As much as I love the stories with happy endings, is that true for everyone, every time?

Where are the stories of doubt and struggle?  When I look at my own life and faith, I still have chapters that are incomplete, still in process, and, still, very messy.

I wonder if all our stories should merely warm people’s hearts.  Shouldn’t some of our stories cause people to deal with their unfinished business and seek a deeper faith?  No good triumphing over evil.  No prodigals coming home.  No rescue.  Stories that tell about the ‘not yet’, the ‘work in progress’ – stories that motivate us to seek the One, Jesus, who starts and finishes our stories.

Does your story relate?

Here’s a sample of Steve’s work.

Meet Peter Habyarimana.  His story is possibly one like you’ve never heard before.  If you’re normal, you won’t click play on this video and take the 18 minutes to hear his story.

However, if you’d like to hear something that will rock your world, your kids world, and everyone else around you, STOP and LISTEN.  I took this video in Nairobi, Kenya, with my FlipCam over dinner as Peter began to share.

Peter was born in Kibali, Uganda.  His Father is from Rwanda and his mother is from Uganda.

Here are some statements Peter makes in this video….

‘Just remember that there are many kids that are going through the same thing I went through…they want just a little glimpse of hope, like I was given…’

‘I grew up eating one meal, every other day.  The meal was beets and potatoes…’

‘Growing up, I never thought I’d live to be five, let alone ten.  As you grew up, you were never taught to dream because you weren’t sure how you would survive.‘

‘I didn’t have a name before I was two years old.  That’s because my mom was afraid that I would die before the age of two.  In my village, for every one-hundred that were born, fifty would die before they were two.’

‘My dad was the most abusive man that I could think of.’  

‘I went to school for one opportunity.  That was the only place I could go and be away from my dad for eight hours.’

‘At eleven, I knew my dad was going to kill me.  So, one morning, I went to the bus station and asked, ‘Which bus goes the farthest?’

While on the bus, ‘Every hour that went by was a glimpse of hope that my dad wasn’t going to kill me.’

At eleven years old, the bus dropped him off in Kampala, Uganda, where he lived as a street kid for four years.  He was always on the move, sleeping only 30-40 minutes at a time.

‘When I had been on the streets for about four years, I saw this family, and they were kind…’

For about eight months this family would give Peter food when they saw him.  They eventually asked him if he would go to school, if given the opportunity.

He thought, ‘If I went to school, maybe I’d have a roof over my head.’  The family put him into a school on two conditions – that he attend a boarding school and attend a program at a local church.  Peter agreed.

‘That changed my life…  I met someone who really believed in me…  He (the father of the family) actually believes that I’m a human being.  For a stranger who didn’t even know my name…to believe in me…that was hard for me to believe.’

The program at the local church was Compassion International.  ‘Once I began the program, I was told that the man who picked me up off the street was the head of Compassion International, Uganda.’  (10 minutes into the video is a MUST LISTEN…)

While still fearing he would be beaten and abused, the Pastor at the church said, ‘Peter, why would we beat you?  God has a promise for you.  That’s why you’re here.  We’re here to make sure that’s fulfilled.’

‘I began to think that I want to be like these men who think I’m special.’

Even receiving that kind of love, Peter remained reluctant to ask Christ into his life.

‘I didn’t ask Christ to be my Savior until 1994.’  At that time, in 1994, a genocide broke out in Rwanda.  Because Peter could speak the language in Rwanda, his sponsor asked him, ‘Could you go to Rwanda and rescue the children?’

At that time, Peter was 18 years old.  He agreed to go and went to Rwanda for Compassion International.  By that time, Peter’s fathers whole family had already been killed in the genocide.

‘My first day in Rwanda, when I drove in, all I could see were heaps and heaps of dead bodies on the roadside.  At that point I knew, I am going to die.’  

In that moment he asked his driver, ‘If I die, where am I going to go?’  He thought, ‘I’ve lived in hell as a child.  Why should I die and go to hell?  So, at that point, I truly wanted to go to heaven.’  He asked the driver to pray for him.  After praying, they waited for someone to come and kill them, assuming they were going to die.

He didn’t die.  Realizing that he might live, he moved on and shortly thereafter, rescued two children who had watched their mom and dad be killed.

‘If I can change one life of a little boy or a little girl…’

‘That’s how God rescued me.  That’s how God truly showed me His grace.  He truly gives hope for those who trust him.’

Now, you may want to watch the video.

This weekend, I’ll be speaking at Victory Life Church in Battle Creek, Michigan.  I love this church because I love their pastor.  His name is James Sunnock.

James and I interned together ‘back in the day’.  At that time, I remember our Pastor saying to both of us, ‘If there’s anything else in the world you can do other than ministry, do it.’  It was his way to  challenge us in making sure that this is what we wanted to invest our life doing.

The Sunnock’s have meant a lot to Shelly and I.  James, and his wife, Eileen, mentored us in our marriage.  They modeled parenting for us when we had little ones.  They cooked us dinner and would spend hours with us when our heads were swimming with life’s issues.  We did life together.

James is a guy I can 100% say, ‘Live like he lives.’  That’s the best endorsement I can give.  I can’t wait to give it publicly this weekend.

Trivia – Battle Creek is the home of Tony the Tiger and Kellogg’s.  I just thought you’d love to know.

This is a Leak-a-tine.  I took this video while outside of Nairobi, Kenya.  We were visiting the location of Compassion International’s Kamangu Child Development Center.

4.5 million children, under the age of five, die each year in sub-saharan Africa.  Over 1/3 of those children don’t survive more than 28 days - mostly as the result of treatable illnesses.  In fact, studies tell us that 2/3 of these deaths can be prevented.

Diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria, HIV/AIDS, measles, and others are to blame.  Though the overall solution is complex, some of the solutions are education, pre-natal and infant care, proper sanitation & hygiene, clean drinking water, immunizations, and bed nets – just to mention a few.

The situation seems so OVERWHELMING.  Because of that, it’s easy to do NOTHING.  I encourage you to do SOMETHING.

There are a number of initiatives and organizations who are responding.  Find one to get involved with.  Here are a few.  There are many more.

I love this video.  It’s beautifully done.  It asks two very important questions – questions worth grappling with until we discover the answers.

What if you were born for more?

Who Is The Prodigy In You?

Thank you Elevation Church for the video.

Chris Spradlin is a great friend and the author of today’s post.  Chris is the founder of EpicParent.  I regularly read his stuff and am always challenged by what he has to say.  Here’s one such post that also gave me some practical steps to respond.

Here’s Chris…..

In the Book of Luke, we see children running to get in the presence of Jesus, but His disciples strongly warned them to keep their space and give Jesus some breathing room.

Check out what Jesus thought about this deal as it was going down…

‘Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” Luke 18:15-17

I believe this can also be taken as a strong warning to parents!!  DON’T get in the way of your kiddos coming to Jesus!!

Here are 5 things that I believe parents do that keep their kids from coming to Jesus…

HYPOCRISY: This morning on the way to school, Team Sprad, had a really interesting conversation regarding hypocrisy.  This could also be named the “do as I say – not as I do” syndrome.  Do you struggle with this?  Do you erupt in anger and coach your kids to walk in patience?  Do you yell at your kids or spouse and get on to your kiddos for disrespect.  There are a million examples we could talk through, but I encourage you to try this ACTION POINT. Sit down with your kids, talk through hypocrisy and give your kids permission to point out mom and dad’s areas of hypocrisy.  Yeah, this is a bit dangerous but it’s one way to get out of your kid’s way to experiencing the person of Jesus.

WHAT YOU DO SCREAMS SO LOUD I CAN’T HEAR WHAT YOU SAY: You can continue to train, teach and preach to your kids…but do they see you up early in the Word of God, do they know that you have specific time set aside for prayer, during church worship do they see you distracted or engaging in intimate worship?  Here is the point…I think parents should continue to train, teach and preach when it makes sense.  However, I also believe that kids will emulate and follow their parents when they see their parents actually practicing what they preach.  Parents, you can’t LEAD what your not living out.

UNBELIEF: There was a time in my life when I was really wrestling with the concept of tithes and offerings, therefore I didn’t teach my kids to give to God what was His first.  I think you get the idea.  My question for you is… do you really believe?  Do you really believe God is the healer, that God is present in pain, that God can be trusted in your leaps of faith, that God’s promises can be stood upon?  Parents, if you struggle with unbelief you WILL be a hindrance in your kids coming to Jesus.

THE SLIPPERY SLOPE OF OSMOSIS: Many of you have heard this from me before, but I believe that most parents try to deposit Jesus in their kids life by osmosis.  So many of us are so busy that we hope that our kids pick Jesus stuff up just by being around us.  I do believe that osmosis is a great way to communicate Jesus to our kids, but we must also spend strategic time teaching and training our kids about Jesus.  I received an email from someone this week that is reading Christian apologetics to their kids before school, doing a Beth Moore study with her daughter in the evening as well as memorizing scripture with her kids throughout the week.  Parents…set aside some time this week and create a calendar, write in specific days and times that you will teach and train your kids about Jesus.  I am sure you have heard the phrase… “fail to plan – plan to fail”.  I believe this is also true when passing Jesus on to our kids.

CHURCH: Seems simple, but I believe wholeheartedly in the power of and God’s mandate in the local church.  I have several great friends that have not made church a priority in their kids lives.  Now I don’t think kids should go to church for a check mark, but to experience the power of God and worship with their friends.  I strongly believe that parents that do not make the discipline of attending church a priority for their family…the chances are greater that their kids will walk away from their faith in the future.

What are your thoughts?  Is there anything that you are currently doing that serves as a hindrance to your kids coming to Jesus?

 

Last night our family was watching America’s Funniest Videos, otherwise known as ‘AFV’.  It’s always a laugh to see somebody else take a spill or commit a blunder.

Every episode of AFV has a winner for the funniest video.  They win $10,000.  One of the finalists on last night’s show was a group of people who had an encounter with a camel.

We’ve had a similar encounter.  In fact, we’re now thinking about sending this video to AFV because it’s funnier than one we saw on the show.

Should we send it in?

It’s worldwide Lin-Sanity.  It’s Lin-Mania.  He’s a Lin-Sation.  It’s a Lin-derella story.

His name is Jeremy Lin.  He’s the new point guard for the New York Knicks.  Out of desperation, the Knicks went to the end of the bench and put in the unknown Lin.

Jeremy Lin was never drafted into the NBA.  He was a D-League player for the Reno Bighorn and the Erie BayHawk.  Having been previously waived, overlooked, and ready to be cut, he finally got his shot.  Not necessarily because of his talent, but because the Knicks were a train wreck going nowhere.

Jeremy Lin is killin’ it.  Ticket prices have soared.  Not only is Madison Square Garden selling out, arenas around the country are selling out when the Knicks are in town.  Two weeks ago, none of us had ever heard of this guy.  It’s a great Cinderella story.

Watching this unfold has made me think…..

• An overnight sensation is the result of lifelong dedication.
• When you’re counted out, don’t count yourself out.
• When you’re on the end of the bench, at least you’re still in the arena.  Believe!
• When your day comes, never forget where you came from.
• When you make it, work harder.  It takes more work to stay at the top than to get to the top.
• When you’re on the radar, you’re now a target.  Today’s lovers are tomorrow’s critics.  That’s ok, it comes with the territory.
• Popularity is a platform.  May your life’s message treat it responsibly.

Long live the Jeremy Lin’s of this world.

‘What makes a great leader?’  That’s the question Tim Kimberly from Credo House  recently asked me.

In a moment of quick witted high intelligence, my response to Tim was… ‘That’s a good question.  Well……’

I couldn’t easily express my thoughts.  His question challenged me because I believe leadership is just as much art as it is science.  The easy way out could have been to rattle off a response that was regurgitated from the latest book full of sound-bytes on leadership.  Knowing Tim, that wouldn’t suffice.

Because I so highly value the importance of leadership in any endeavor, in both the for-profit and the non-profit sector, I had to answer the question.  If not for Tim, for myself.

So, I’m taking a swing at synthesizing a complex response to a simple question.  Knowing there are a million iterations and other nuances to add, I’ve crunched my thoughts to what I would personally consider the irreducible minimum of what makes a great leader.

‘What makes a great leader?’

They’re Smokin’ What They’re Sellin’.  Whatever the cause or endeavor they are leading others to engage in, they’re living it themselves.  This is all about credibility, authenticity, and ultimately, authority.  When a leader isn’t smokin’ what they’re sellin’, their influence will be short lived – if it has any life at all.  Great leaders personally exude the mission.

They Broadcast The Picture In High-Def.  They articulate with clarity where the team or organization is going.  The vision is clear.  Great leaders help us envision ourselves in a better place.  Even in times of uncertainty, they remind us why we have chosen to journey together.  When a leader communicates clearly where we’re going and why, we jump on the train because it’s something we can believe in, something we can stand for.  Great leaders paint a compelling and realistic vision for the future.  

They Release The Tribe.  They inspire people to bring their best.  They engage the strengths of others.  When a leader engages and leverages the strengths and talents of their tribe,  creativity, innovation, and forward progress seems to take on a life of its own.  Great leaders believe in people and empower them to make a difference.

When it comes to great leadership, there’s more to it than this.  That being said, I’d suggest that leaders who don’t emulate these three characteristics may still lead, but will never be great.

Would you agree or disagree?

Today’s post is from Mark Verschueren.  Mark is a good personal friend.  He’s a pastor on staff at Resurrection Life Church – Cadillac, Michigan.

Mark’s passion is to help others experience the power of God’s Word in their everyday life.  He also can’t stop talking about the difference Christ makes in marriage and family relationships.

Last weekend, Mark facilitated The Chazown Experience at his church for the first time.  I had the privilege of introducing Mark to Chazown a year ago.  He went through The Chazown Experience online and it greatly impacted his life.  Here are some thoughts from Mark as he reflects on The Chazown Experience at his church.

From Mark:

When we first began looking at doing a Chazown Experience at our church, I had no doubt that it was something God wanted us to do.

The event was amazing!  Craig Groeschel and the team at LifeChurch.tv did an excellent job in putting this experience together.  Going through the exercise on PAST EXPERIENCES is, in my opinion, without a doubt, the most significant part of the day.  It was also the most difficult for some as they processed through their painful experiences.  Another session we also got a lot of comments on were the FIVE SPOKES and how we set goals for each.

In fact, here are some of the comments we heard and received…..

‘More people need to do this…’

‘I got so much revelation today it is going to take me weeks to process…’

‘Thank you so much for inviting me to this…’

‘Chazown was a journey through new memories and discovering their significance. It helped me look objectively at my jumbled mess of thoughts, emotions, good intentions, aspirations, passions and dreams. I am challenged to end up somewhere on purpose, therefore my Chazown was the beginning of a new way of looking at life.’

‘Okay, so just wanted to get back to you about The Chazown Experience.  It was excellent! I love the concept of the spokes on the wheel.  It makes so much sense.  I really needed to evaluate those different areas of my life.’

Mark goes on to say, ‘After The Chazown Experience, people are more open to God’s plan for their life.  God was showing them how they could live life on purpose!’

If you’d like to be a part of The Chazown Experience this Friday night and Saturday morning @TheMETChurch, you can get all the details HERE.  Come on out and join us.