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cheers,
Lance and Jenn

Legousalem

At my church we have recently started a new service. This service is primarily created to serve the emergent culture. I really enjoyed this last service. I preached on Isaiah 58:10-12. A week before the service, we got two brothers who have creative minds to build a miniature version of Jerusalem out of Legos. They had been playing the video game Assassin's Creed so they were familiar with the city. We set up our sanctuary with five high tops and left chairs out for people to use. In the center below our stage we used two large rectangular tables to put our model of Jerusalem.
During the service, I invited the congregation to come forth to collect Legos that had been donated to the church. I asked them to build a part of a city and to let that part represent where they were or where they were going in their lives. I preached for a bit on how God takes care of us in our parched places and how God desires to restore His people. Then I invited them to get together in groups and discuss what their lego creations represented in their own lives. The discussions were amazing. People had truly put their hearts and souls in their Lego creations. Then I went on to talk about if they want God to restore them then they must submit to God's will which in this section involves giving to the hungry and taking care of the needs of the afflicted. So in the end of the service the people came forward to build onto Legousalem.
For those who enjoy a play on words the word Legousalem is a three part compound word. "Lego" is Greek for "to say" and "u" is English slang typically used in text messaging finally "salem" is Hebrew for peace Jerusalem was the "foundation of peace." So putting the words together it means "you say peace." Part of the rebuilding process involves us saying peace in our own lives and helping to create peace in others. After the sermon, Jennifer lifted up all of the broken cities in our world and prayed for God's Restoration.


It was an awesome service. I love being in a dynamic group of leaders who can come up with these great ideas. It started with talking about how God wants to rebuild his people and turned into a beautiful service full of worship and personal healing. It's great what we can do with Legos. What things/mediums have you used to help people to understand God's word besides using your own words?

Top ten Personal dreams

1. Build a self sustaining outreach ministry in the four corners
2. Return to a good surf spot and join a team of believers to start a church plant
3. Always leave a good legacy
4. Travel and surf the major continents including Australia not Antarctica
5. Never stop my tenacity for sharing God’s word to unbelievers
6. Join Jennifer, the wife, in a ministry that travels and preaches of healing and reconciliation
7. Have a surf session with Jeremy Zach and Prentice Park where they make it past the breakers
8. Go to the Holy Land and surf check out the spots http://www.wannasurf.com/spot/Middle_East/Israel/index.html
9. Climb all of the 14ers in Colorado, heck let’s throw in K2 and Everest while we’re dreaming
10. I will receive all correction and exhortation till the day I die

Lessons from the Honeymoon

So I just got back from our honeymoon. It was a blast. We went to Maui and stayed on the westside of the island. I learned a lot of lessons but two resound very loud in my life.

1. During the trip, I was able to watch the sunset every night. During these sunsets I would sit with the lovely wife and just be in awe. I miss those feelings of awe. To think that the sun sets and rises everyday and we are surround by God's creation at every turn (unless in a concrete jungle) and we get caught up in what's next and don't see the what's now. I don't know how to make a change to focus more on the beauty in creation but I pray that I will be able to stop more and see and taste what is good.


2. This lesson was a sad reality for me but is necessary to share. It two years for Jennifer and I to have a honeymoon. I never realized the importance of this time to share and be with one another. During the first few days, I felt ashamed that I failed to notice the importance of this time. To be with one another and not have any outside distractions and be able to enjoy talking, travelling, and other stuff :-) is so important. I really would like to make sure that I take time to plan extended periods of time to enjoy one another. Otherwise, we get stuck in focusing on our jobs, family, anything but each other.

I learned a lot of lessons during the honeymoon but these are two major highlights. Cheers to you and yours.

a bible and a gun

During my time in New Orleans, Rudy told me a story of the lowest time he had. It was at this point that he sat with nothing. He had lost his job and was unable to get enough money from insurance. He felt that he had nothing. So he sat with a Bible in one hand and a gun in the other. The Bible was his last hope and the gun his last choice. He turned the Bible to what he needed most which was a job. As he read through Job he felt that if this man was able to recover from losing everything than I can do it to. He put the gun away and turned to his last hope.

In life we reach these moments. Some people call it their darkest hours. When we reach these moments I pray that you might be able to find hope in the one that came to this earth and conquered death so that the love of Christ might transcend through all. Don't ever give up there is hope. May the peace of God reign in you lives.

all I got

After living in a FEMA trailer for so long Rudy was in a McDonald's restroom. His son turn and looked at him after finishing and said "Daddy can we get one of these for Christmas." His son was looking at a freaking toilet. All Rudy could do was throw water in his face to hide his tears.
It's amazing how much we take for granted the little things in life. I would never think to appreciate the nice toilet I sit on until it is taken away from me. All over New Orleans all you see is a bunch of FEMA trailers. These trailers were meant to be there only for 6 months to a year and now they have been there for over 2 and a half years. To make matters worse these trailers were not designed for families to live in them for such long periods of time. The formaldehyde is now at dangerous. These trailers are very similar to the people that live in them. They are tired of being stuck and want to get out. They lack the quality that people in the US have gotten used to. Both have given all that they have and are at the ropes end. What can we do to help?

1. Listen and tell their stories
2. Build a team to help the rebuilding process
3. Send resources
4. Pray
5. Pray some more

ch__ch what's missing? You Are

In John 10 we hear the story of a hired hand and a good shepherd. The good shepherd stays with the flock and the hired hand runs when the wolf comes.

After Katrina, the town was devastated. the population dropped 50,000 people which made it so many churches were and are unable to opperate.
This means that pastors and priests have left the area. Many of the locals feel that the priests and pastors have left their people like a hired hand. This is a sad reality when visiting in the St Bernard Parish. These people who grew up with the same pastor or priest no longer have someone to go to. Even worse some of the ones that remain are tired of hearing the complaints.

I look at this scene and feel God's heart break for these people. I understand the numbers game and why there are no pastor there but that does not make it right. My questions are: how do we help these people who feel abandoned by the church? How do we let them know that Christ loves them when the people who are supposed to be God's mouthpiece have left? What will be the impact on this culture?