Tropical Storm "Dolly" just blew through and I found that ironic.  My pet name for all of my girls including Ruth is "Dolly".  And so, while hurricanes are not something to joke about, "Dolly" winds are blowing all around our family these days.  I just spent a week staying at the home of Dolly #2 (Karissa) during our annual Kid's Missions Camp recently.  While I'll post a photo taken during camp, the best pictures and description of the camp can be found at www.campjonah.blogspot.com.  It doesn't get any better than hosting a fantastic camp with a record number of campers and also getting to stay with my Dolly and my grandkids overnight. 

Dolly #1 (Kindra) is about a week away from giving Ruth and me our third grandchild.  This would normally be no big deal schedule wise except that Dolly #3 (Alicia) is getting married a week after Kindra's due date.  So right in the middle of wedding preparations, Ruth will be heading to Seattle to play mommy and grandma.  That happens next week, hence the eye of the Dolly storm!!  Kindra and Simeon are most likely going to give us some treasured red-haired kids as that seems to be their preferred hair color with genetics on both sides of the family kicking in.  We'll take it... and I'm actually hoping for another little Dolly!  Meanwhile, Alicia is literally getting married on the top of a mountain with a spectacular view of Mt. Adams in the background.  Wish you could be there but the guests will be few; you have to hike the last 3/10's of a mile up a very rough road to the wedding site.  Most folks will opt to attend the reception that follows.  And, of course, I'll continue my Dolly tradition of singing a song I've written for the occasion.  Should be memorable.

Much more ministry stuff going on these days as well with an eventful High School Mission Encounter behind us and more resources for missions in local churches being developed.  But the big winds for the present are family.  We're praying that we'll all still be standing when the winds all die down!

I just experienced one of the more significant cross-cultural events of my life and I never left the United States.  Memphis, TN was the site of the second Missional Gathering that WorldVenture Church Connections Division had with a number of African American pastors and leaders.  We met for two plus days building relationship, trust and a partnership that will activate African American churches to get their people into missions.  We saw God move as we worked on ways to flesh out a covenant we had drafted last year.  Specifically, we made plans for two trips overseas; one to Senegal with my colleague, Andy Spohrer, and one to Ghana led by me to connect with our WorldVenture African American missionaries, Lloyd and Jan Chinn.  We also jumped on Pastor Ross Cullins' suggestion to host a missions conference for people of color in Houston, TX this October.  Man, was that exciting as we discussed appropriate speakers and the logistics needed to pull it off.  I found my experience with Mission Connexion Northwest to be so very valuable in giving input.  But it was especially exciting to see these African American pastors leading the way!

 

One afternoon we visited the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated and where the history of the civil rights movement is documented up to the assassination.  I was deeply moved as I walked through the interactive displays.  I left overcome with sorrow at the way my race had oppressed these people.  Maybe in some small way our WorldVenture efforts to assist African Americans in being used of God overseas will begin to right some of those horrific wrongs.

 

Perhaps the highlight of the trip was visiting Pastor Ricky Floyd’s church for his Wednesday night meeting.  Even the name of his church, “The Pursuit of God Transformation Center”, told me I was in a unique setting.  And then to be greeted in the parking lot by the main usher dressed in a coat and tie and brought down to the FRONT ROW told me we were in for a treat.  Pastor Ricky led us in worship with his incredible voice.  We sang songs I’ve sung in my church but not the way Ricky and his team sang them!  It was so loud that I sang at the top of my lungs and no one heard me!!  At the same time, Ricky kept motioning to the sound guy to turn up his lead mic!  We sang, swayed, raised hands and praised Jesus as the clock got thrown out the window!  Several times the video camera focused on us white guys up front who couldn’t seem to sway, shout and sing like the rest of the congregation.  After Pastor Ross Cullins gave his greetings to the congregation, Andy and I shared about our short term trips and encouraged the people to join us.  Then David Korb, my colleague from Chicago who has built the relationship with these churches and is now called “Uncle Dave” by many,  gave a very white presentation about The Missional Church!  But everyone clapped enthusiastically as he was introduced and when he finished.  They especially seemed to appreciate it when he had Pastor Ricky and another African American leader join him on the platform and he introduced the three of them as the church that he desired to represent us overseas… black and white together!  Finally, Pastor Terrance Autry from Dallas, TX got up and preached.  Oh, man!  Did he ever rock!!  The message was solid and insightful but the delivery was like nothing I’ve ever seen or heard before.  He preached; the people talked back.  He screamed out the truth and the people moved with him with their loud amens, watch outs and hallelujahs.  At one point he was so active and the people so responsive that they began to throw folded dollar bills on the platform!  At the end he challenged them to take their stories to the world and get involved with WorldVenture in reaching the nations.  Pastor Ricky gave an invitation and some 20 to 30 people came forward to give themselves to missions.  Ricky asked them to sign up for Andy and my trips and we immediately had our trips filled.  In fact, I got one bishop and three pastors who signed up.  Bishop Immanual was a man and the pastors were all women.  This will be a trip like I’ve never led before!!  One single mom came forward and said she couldn’t go but when she found out the trip would cost around $3,000 she said, “That’s one of my paychecks!  I’ll SEND somebody!” 

 

Two and a half hours later we left the church after many hugs and expressions of love.  Pastor Ricky teased the main usher about bringing the car to the door saying, “Hasn’t been that long he’s used keys to start a car!”  We all laughed and thanked God that the church was well named.  This WAS a transformation center.  Many lives have been changed and mine was too that night.  Now God will use these brothers and sisters in the faith to transform the lives of people around the world.  Glory!!

 

Don't be alarmed!  Ruth and I are not pregnant at 50-plus years of age.  But I did give a devotional at our recent Northwest Christmas party that carries a baby and Christmas theme.  Hopefully it is refreshing as you move into the heart of the holiday season.

 

 

Unto Us a Child is Born 

“We have a baby!”  It’s a common statement.  Proud parents or even grandparents say it when their newborn comes into the world.  Usually there are phone calls right after the event and a written birth announcement to follow.  “We have a baby!”  “It’s a boy!” Or, “It’s a girl!”  Name, length and weight.  It’s all there along with plenty of opinions expressed eventually on who the baby resembles.  Comments are made connecting the baby to its parentage.  “Oh, look, he’s got his mother’s mouth!”  Nose, eyes, fingers or toes are often included in these comparisons.   Predictions soon follow.  “She’ll grow up to be just like her Mom.”  Or, “This kid has the makings of a great fisherman.”  It’s all about fitting the little one into the family or affirming what everybody already knows… “We have a baby!”  Thousands of other parents may have had a baby at the same time, but this baby is ours!

 

I know the feeling.  When our first child was born there was immediately a tremendous sense of both awe and ownership.  Ruth as a first time mother kept exclaiming through her tears, “It’s a baby!”  I suggested we take a little picture with a little camera of the little fingers and little toes.  Ruth called her folks and I called mine.  Kindra Emeline Hazen was born!  She was ours, as were the three that followed.  We had a baby! 

 

It is interesting to me in the Advent story that nothing is mentioned concerning Joseph and Mary’s response to the birth of their new son.  Maybe it was the humble setting or the mystery around a virgin giving birth.  But nothing is recorded.  However, one assumes that when these parents saw this tiny son, they were moved as we are today.  Perhaps they counted the fingers and toes and commented on his little nose, ears and mouth.  Is it possible that they whispered in amazement, “We have a baby!”  Yes, it’s possible; but it’s bigger than that.

 

Consider this father issue.  To the casual reader, Luke 3:23 would raise some questions.  “He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph.”  Is there some question about Joseph being the father?  Well, yes!  We know that Joseph was not the actual father but that Mary was pregnant by the Holy Spirit.  So, when Jesus was born, is it possible that God himself might say, “We have a baby!”  It sounds a bit unusual but yes, that would at least be accurate.  But it’s bigger than that.

 

You begin to get a fuller picture when you read the angel’s announcement to the shepherds in Luke 2:11,  “Today, in the city of David, a Savior has been born to you.”  You?  We can understand Jesus being Joseph and Mary’s baby and maybe even God’s.  But could it be that he was also the shepherds’ baby?  Could they have left the manger scene all excited and said, “We have a baby?”  Yes.  According to the angel, this was their baby too.  But it’s even bigger than that.

 

Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet, said it for the birth of the God-Man baby in Isaiah 9:6.  “Unto us a child is born.”  Same thing as, “We have a baby!”  And with it are all the things one would expect from a proud couple of parents.  You know, expressions of special names like Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God and Prince of Peace.  Well, okay, those aren’t everyday names for any normal kid but they do sound like what a parent might say when talking about special names, especially reflecting a kid’s heritage.  And, of course, there are the proud predictions of this kid being a ruler and a deliverer of people.  Yup!  Sounds like the stuff you’d hear from a beaming couple bragging on their boy.  “We have a baby!”

 

Funny thing, though.  Isaiah is not speaking the words of the parents, Joseph and Mary.  Check it out for yourself.  No record of a birth announcement from the parents.  Sure, he was their son.  At least Luke later calls them his parents.  But something else is going on here.  Isaiah is speaking the words of a whole nation, Israel.  “Unto us a child is born.”  Could an entire nation claim this baby as their own?  Yes, that is what Isaiah is saying.  “Israel, we have a baby!”  Amazing!  But it’s bigger than that.

 

Remember Simeon, the prophet, the guy in Luke 2:25 who had received God’s promise that he would see the Messiah before he died?  He meets the couple and child at the temple and describes Jesus as “a light for revelation to the Gentiles.”  That’s you and me and every person on earth who is not a Jew.  Wait a minute!  Could it be that this was the world’s baby?  Could you and I echo the words of Joseph and Mary, the shepherds, the nation Israel and perhaps even God himself and say, “We have a baby?!” 

 

One of my family’s favorite holiday videos is “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.”  We watch it every year around Christmas time and basically know every line.  It is the imaginative story of a church that always puts on a Christmas pageant for the community, until the lady who is the main organizer goes down with a broken leg.  After a flurry of worry, phone calls and speculation, the hot potato of responsibility is passed on to one of the unassuming mothers in the church.  All the normal traditions are soon broken as this rookie tries to patch things together and put on a pageant worthy of the tradition it deserves.  That is, until the Herdman kids get wind of it.  The Herdmans are a welfare family known for their ill behavior, filth and intimidation.  Like one of the “good” kids says, “They lie, steal, smoke cigars… and take the Lord’s name in vain.”  The six Herdman kids show up for the casting meeting and the regular church kids flee to the fringes of the room.  Imogene Herdman tells the normal star of the show what she will do to her if she doesn’t surrender the role of Mary.  Imogene’s brother, Ralph, becomes Joseph, three other brothers, Leroy, Ollie and Claude are cast as the three wise men, and the other sister, Gladys, takes the role of the Angel of the Lord.  Practices are a disaster and the performance evening finally arrives with a packed house; everyone expects the worst.  But that evening, something happens to the Herdmans.  Leroy doesn’t show initially.  He is disgusted that a wiseman would bring a flimsy cardboard container representing something he didn’t even understand.  He heads home and arrives just in time to bring in the ham the welfare lady had left for the family.  Gladys, the Angel of the Lord, runs in with her star wand and yells at the shepherds to move up and see the baby.  But it’s Imogene who is truly transformed.  Just before her entrance with Ralph, she notices a picture of Mary holding the baby Jesus.  Her face softens as she adjusts her veil and gently caresses the doll in her arms.  During the performance, tears come to her eyes as she realizes… she has a baby!  He was hers… or was she his?  The movie ends with Gladys jumping up on a planter on Main Street as the kids are running home, waving her star and exclaiming, “Hey, hey, unto to you a child is born!”

 

Gladys was right!  You see, the amazing thing about this baby is not just that he was Mary’s or even Joseph’s.  He belonged to the shepherds.  He belonged to all of Israel.  He belongs to the Kurds.  He belongs to the Chinese.  He belongs to Africans.  He belongs to the world.  He belongs to you and he belongs to me.  “Unto us a child is born.”  We have a baby!  He is Christ the Lord!

 

 

A week ago, my son, David, and I found some free passes to the local ice skating rink and decided to take my wife, Ruth, on a date.  We hit a local restaurant first and then surprised her with the skating idea.  You have to know that it had been 30 years since I've skated.  I'm 54, two crowns into a full set of dentures, with nagging aches and pains a present way of life.  So when Ruth and I got onto the rink, my visions of coasting around like I had years ago ended abruptly.  No, I didn't crash.  I was too busy tightly gripping the hand bar all around the rink!  I looked either like a drunk or an ostrich with prosthetics!  Maybe a combination of the two!  It took twenty minutes before I felt comfortable letting go.  But the thing that got me was the kids whizzing all around me.  I was the oldest guy out there save one and he looked like a former Olympic medalist.  Everyone else was seemingly half to a fourth my age.  One little girl looked about three.  And they were casually skating around, talking up a storm and not even thinking about the fact that they only had two VERY thin pieces of metal between them and some of the slickest stuff on the planet.  The place was alive.  Loud music and piles of smiles.  It had to be the hang out place of the city.  I survived!!

Reminds me of working with the emerging generation in missions.  No, I'm not THAT far behind in this area.  I love connecting with these "kids" and hearing their passion for Jesus and his work.  In fact, I just joined the board of my nephew's new missions organization, LaHash International, just to stay connected with this new generation of missions.  And I'm hosting a Missions Pastor Retreat in May for Northwest mission pastors on the topic, "Missions and the Emerging Generation."  I'm bringing in a number of young people working in missions just to mix it up with these mostly "boomer" missions pastors.  Should be great!  But, man, is it ever different from the way my generation does missions.  Like Jeff Theissen, WorldVenture missionary to Uganda/Sudan once told me, our generation looks through the lens of the Great Commission when we do missions.  The emerging generation looks through the lens of the Great Commandment.  Interesting comparison.

I'd recommend a book to those of you interested in this area of missions.  There's nothing about ice skating in it but it IS written by postmoderns on the topic of missions.  The title is "Postmission.  World Mission by a Postmodern Generation".  Editor is Richard Tiplady and the publisher is Paternoster Press.  Interesting and stimulating!  I'm doing my best to learn so that I can "skate" with the kids.

Okay, I got my blog started with my first posting on my family.  Guess I'd better do something ministry related for this one.  I just finished a short little book titled, "Antioch Revisited" by Tom Julien.  It was one of those reads where you keep telling yourself, "I could have written this one myself.  He's saying everything I say when I talk to churches or missionaries about the local church and missions."  It's an excellent read if you're interested in what the Church Connection guys are preaching to the churches and to our missionaries. 

If you look at my photos you'll see my 6 month old grandson, Judah.  Cute guy.  He does all the stuff most 6 month old kids do, but he is a very responsive kid as well.  No question he is a keeper!

I attended a funeral service of a well loved pastor here in the Northwest yesterday and as the service went on, I couldn't help but think of my Dad who had died... let's see, I thought as I looked at my watch, how many months has it been?  And then it hit me.  It was 6 months to the day.  The reflections in the context of another pastor's funeral easily brought tears once more.  But I couldn't help but think, "Dad is 6 months old today!  He's the same age as Judah, except he's six months into eternity.  I wondered to myself what a 6 month old resident of heaven would act like.  Was it as exciting as the first day?  Is there a sense of time as Randy Alcorn indicates in his book on heaven?  Is there a difference between a six month old in heaven and a five year old?  Crazy questions, I know.  But I DO find myself often asking, "I wonder what Dad and Mom are doing TODAY?!"  And I guess as long as Judah is around, I'll always be able to track Dad's heavenly age (Mom's too for that matter.  She died one week after Dad).