Colorado Bound

I had written earlier that my sister and her family are moving to Colorado soon. The original plan was for my brother-in-law to move in January to begin his new position with the National Weather Service and then my sister and the kids move in May/June after my sister finishes her Spring semester of teaching.

Well the plans have changed...

During a visit in early December to find housing, my sister interviewed for a teaching position. She recently received confirmation that she obtained the position, but it comes with a catch...they want her to begin January 8th!

As a result, they are going to spend their Christmas packing and preparing for the big move. My step-dad, Mike, and I are going to help them make the drive and then unpack. I have been working with my sister to coordinate travel arrangements; it looks like it will be quite an adventure.

I am taking the Amtrak from Chicago to St. Louis where they will pick me up on their way through. We will then take two days to make the drive with a 24-foot moving truck, two cars, four drivers, two kids, and two cats. When we arrive in Grand Junction, we will unload the truck and begin getting them settled into the house. When we are done, I will be flying back to Chicago with a layover in Denver and a layover in Omaha.

Assuming everything works smoothly (yeah, right!), I should be back home in time for a quiet evening with the family before going back to church on Sunday.

Going to School in your Underwear

Have you ever had that dream where you go to school without realizing you are only wearing your underwear? You know the one...

You walk through the halls and everybody is snickering, laughing, and pointing. You can't figure out why until your best friend or your girlfriend hurries over to your side and whispers in your ear, "Did you forget something?"

Did you know that preachers have their own version of that dream?

We are standing before the church and realize that we never wrote our sermon for that Sunday. We hem and haw and stammer our way through something vaguely resembling a sermon until we walk off the stage with our head hanging low. When someone tells you it was good, you reply, "Good to be over!"

I had this dream two nights ago...I spent some extra time on my sermon later that day...

Thou Shalt Not Covet...

Saw this Harley at our local airport earlier this year...

Thanksgiving with the Family

Karen and I took the kids downstate for Thanksgiving last week. We spent three days at my Dad's in Effingham, IL. My sister and her family spent the day on Thursday, and my brother came down from Chicago and stayed until Saturday.

We had a great time with the family - despite the normal family oddities. One cool thing was watching Ethan run around for hours with his two cousins, Isaac and Tera. Unfortunately, they will be moving to Grand Junction, Colorado next year where my brother-in-law got a job with the National Weather Service. He will be working there for two years and then hopefully moving back to Illinois to work as a forecaster (not the guy on television but the guy who feeds info to that guy). Guess who's going to Colorado to visit and climb some fourteeners?!?

The biggest news of the trip was my brother's impending marriage. He recently went to Thailand for two weeks of vacation. He spent most of his time there with a woman named Nok (pronounced like "Coke") and her family. He had been connected with her through a co-worker's wife who is from Thailand. By the end of the vacation, he had asked her to marry him and move to the United States. They are beginning the eight month process now. The plan is for him to return to Thailand next year for a Buddhist wedding ceremony and a three-day wedding festival and then travel back to Chicago with his new bride.

The picture is of the cousins at my sister's house in Villa Grove, IL. We went there on Saturday on our way home to hang out some more since they had only been able to spend time with us on Thursday.

All in all, it was a great trip to spend time with the family. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Director of Family Service Needed:

Fox Valley Christian Church is a growing non-denominational church located in the far-west suburbs of Chicago. We have recently completed construction of a new 23,000sq/ft facility located on 17 acres of land. We are looking for a new staff member to oversee the development and production of a weekly worship service for parents and kids. The ideal candidate will be an extrovert with high-energy and will be a blend of administrator and performer.

This individual should possess the ability to oversee ministry details, create volunteer teams in conjunction with the needs of the service, relate to both children and parents, and be comfortable both on-stage and behind-the-scenes. A passion for helping parents in their role as primary spiritual educators of their children is a must for this position.

Fox Valley Christian Church believes and operates on a team model of ministry. You will be joining a staff of twelve men and women who serve in full-time, part-time and unpaid positions. A solid, proven relationship with Jesus Christ is essential as we strive to encourage your personal walk with Christ along with your ministry performance.

Past experience working within a church is more important than education. Production and/or theater experience is required. Salary is negotiable and will be based on multiple factors. A detailed job description can be downloaded at www.fvcc.com/careers.pdf.

Contact Information:
Fox Valley Christian Church Chris Genders
40W150 Main Street
Batavia, IL 60510
Phone: (630) 208-8484
Fax: (630) 482-9539
Email: chris@fvcc.com
Website: www.fvcc.com

This Is My Church

The following is an anonmyous poem I found for the sermon I delivered today. It resonated with me, so I thought I would share it with you...

This is my church.
It is composed of people like me.
We make it what it is.

I want it to be a church
that is a light on the path of pilgrims,
leading them to Goodness, Truth and Beauty.

It will be, if I am,
It will be friendly, if I am.
Its pews will be filled, if I help to fill them.

It will do a great work, if I work.
It will bring other people into it,
To worship and fellowship, if I bring them.

It will be a church of loyalty and love,
or fearlessness and faith,
if I, who make it what it is, am filled with these.

Therefore, I dedicate myself to the task
of being what I want my church to be.

How are you supposed to respond when your car is on fire?

I've got a question to ask. How are you supposed to respond when your car's engine is on fire?

Never thought I would have to personally answer that question, but I had to yesterday. I had some work done at a local mechanic shop (name withheld because...accidents happen; it's not like he meant to destroy my car!).

Within ten minutes of leaving the garage, I had smoke billowing out of my engine. I was near the Christian Campus House in DeKalb, so I pulled over to see what was going on. Imagine my surprise when I popped the hood to discover a small fire blazing in the right side of the engine compartment.

For some reason, the first thought that entered my mind was just to blow it out. Thankfully, the absurdity of that image also entered my mind quickly. Instead, I did the next logical thing and called 911. Remain calm. Explain the situation. Give them my location. See you soon.

Then I called the mechanic.

I didn't shout. I didn't use any profanity. I feel I did pretty well explaining to him why he was about to buy me a new car. I'll call you later after the fire's out...

So how are you supposed to respond when your car is on fire?

I laughed!

What else can you do? Besides, it's just stuff. It's nothing that can't be easily replaced. Nobody was hurt. I didn't lose anything but the car in the fire. I gave the local college students some excitement in their dreary day. So I laughed.

CarMax...here I come!

One Final Exit

For over ten years I have been walking through the doors of a building located near the heart of Batavia, Illinois. I made my final exit from that building last night.

After spending a few hours cleaning up and loading items to be taken to our new church facility, I took one last look around, placed my key on the Welcome Center counter, and let the door close behind me. I wasn't sure what I would feel at that moment.

Sorrow? Somewhat...since this was a place I had called home for so long.

Joy? Definitely...since a major project was finally completed.

Excitement? Absolutely...since I could now focus on future ministry efforts in our new facility.

The emotion that I felt the most, though, was something else entirely. As I walked out of those doors for one final exit, I was mostly indifferent. Maybe a better word would be content.

I was content with the knowledge that we had accomplished the mission God had given us in that facility. I was content with the transition to a new facility. I was content with the fact that I would not return to this facility again with the same intent I previously had. I was content.

And I was hungry...

Volunteer Appreciation

The process of building a new church facility is exciting, exhausting, and even overwhelming. I have never been involved in the actual construction of a house or church facility before, so it has been interesting to gain an elementary understanding of the construction process.

Time and again, I have been greatly impressed with our General Contractor. I cannot imagine how he can balance all of the demands of his job, yet he continues to show an amazing level of commitment to our project.

There is another group of individuals I have also been greatly impressed with - our volunteers. Almost every night of the week, there are volunteers in the new facility preparing various areas for future ministry. On Saturdays, we have had a handful of extremely dedicated volunteers working on the landscaping and other similar projects.

The past two nights, we have had a number of volunteers in our "old" facility cleaning out storage rooms, sorting through all of the stuff that a church accumulates in 35 years of doing church, and packing it all up for the move next week.

All of this volunteer involvement and commitment has proven what Bill Hybels once said, "The church is the most volunteer-intensive organization in the world." My hope and prayer is that this commitment to volunteerism will act as a catalyst for those individuals who remain seated in the stands and haven't yet figured out that they are supposed to be on the playing field.

Let's all come together to eliminate the 80/20 rule - 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people. Imagine if we accomplished 100/100 - 100% of the work is done by 100% of the people. This almost sounds Biblical (see Ephesians 4:16 and 1 Peter 4:10).

Quote - Donald Rumsfeld

"If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much."

Camping at the Dells

Karen and I took the kids camping just outside of Wisconsin Dells last weekend. Here's a pic of Morgan in the tent. We had a great time together; the only problem was that Morgan discovered a unique, but effective, method of waking me up in the morning...pulling on my nose hairs!

The Messengers

Have you seen "The Messengers" on TLC? The following is straight from the show's official website...

The power and force of the spoken word and the motivation it inspires are the essence of the new TLC program The Messengers. This innovative eight-part series...has a simple yet lofty goal: to find America's next great inspirational speaker. Showcasing 10 speakers from a variety of perspectives, The Messengers explores their ability to communicate the many complexities of life’s toughest lessons. Along the way, the speakers address issues viewers face in their everyday lives and communities.

The Messengers is an innovative and uplifting series with challenging individual experiences that act as a catalyst for the celebration of inspirational public speaking in contemporary America. "The participants really have to walk the walk before they can talk the talk," said David Abraham, executive vice president and general manager for TLC.

The foundation of each episode is a field trip designed to give the speakers a profound learning experience – the opportunity to walk in someone else’s shoes. In the first episode, the participants face the harsh reality of homelessness. They spend 24 hours on the streets of Skid Row in Los Angeles and then deliver speeches based on the topic of charity. In subsequent episodes, field trips range from the participants living as a blind or wheelchair-bound individual for a day, to sharing in a powerful moment of forgiveness between a man convicted of vehicular homicide and the deceased’s mother. At the end of each field trip, the group is given their speaking topic – one simple word such as hope, perseverance or forgiveness, to use as the basis for their speeches.

Given my chosen profession, it should come as no surprise that I really enjoy this show. I have found it to be inspirational, educational, and even frustrating at times. The aspect I appreciate the most about the show is the field trip. It is a personal philosophy of mine that a "messenger" needs to be authentic in their communication, and these field trips provide that authenticity. People can detect when your words are genuine and heartfelt rather than artificial and contrived.

If you haven't had a chance to watch this show, check it out and let me know what you think...

http://www.themessengers.com/sites/messengers/home.html

Investing in Others

Coffee and conversation were the key elements of my day yesterday. I spent the first few hours of the morning sitting in a local pancake house meeting with various people.

The first hour and a half were spent with my accountability group as we discussed the past two weeks - the highs and the lows - and challenged each other to become better men of God.

For almost an hour after that, I met with one of our team leaders in the church to discuss budgets for 2007. During this conversation, we discussed our hopes and dreams for the future of the church and for our families. We shared about our past experiences in life and how these experiences have shaped us and prepared us to serve God and our fellow man.

Later that morning, I spent two hours at the local Caribou coffeeshop - one of my favorite places in the world - with a member of the church. Our discussion touched on numerous topcis including our families, church membership, baptism, ministry invovlvement, and career choices.

These diverse conversations resulted in a great deal of personal reflection throughout the rest of the day. The primary focus of my thoughts revolved around one central theme: my chosen profession.

I regularly encounter people who ask me what I do for a living. I generally respond that I am a teaching pastor in a local church. For most individuals who inquire, this answer is sufficient. Some want to go deeper, so I explain that I also oversee the staff and work with other leaders in the overall development of the church.
However, I think there may be a better response to this question of what I do for a living. It may not be as succint or easily understood as teaching pastor, but it is appropriate...

I invest in the lives of other people.

John Maxwell utilizes a similar answer when he is asked about his chosen career. He responds, "I add value to other people." When I reflect upon any given week, almost everything I do centers around investing in - or adding value to - other people's lives.

When I teach on Sunday morning, I am investing in the lives of my listeners with the intent of making them more committed followers of Christ.

When I meet with my Men's Bible study, I am investing in the lives of these guys to make them better leaders in their homes, in the church, and in the marketplace.

When I meet with someone at a coffeeshop or a local restaurant, I am investing in their life to help them understand their purpose in this world and how best to live that out.

When I meet with the staff on Monday mornings, I am investing in the lives of my co-workers to help them understand the broader scope of the church and the processes for moving forward with the vision God has given us.

One question that naturally flows out of these observations is this... how do I continue to grow as a leader and teacher so that I can continue to add value to other people? The answer is multi-faceted.

I grow as a I meet with my mentors - those individuals who invest in me. I grow as I read and learn about life and love and leadership. I grow as I observe the world around me.

I grow as a result of each and every conversation and encounter I have with other individuals. As I learn about their stories and what God is doing in their lives, I grow in my understanding of who God is and how much He loves us and cares for us and disciplines us and protects from our own stupid choices.

But most of all, I grow in the times of solitude, prayer, and reflection. I grow when I stop investing in the lives of others - when I stop doing - and simply be in God's presence. During these times, I ask Him to reveal Himself to me more and to shape me into the person He wants me to be. It is these extremely personal moments with God that allow me to invest day after day in the lives of those around me. (Read Matthew 14 to see how solitude, prayer, and reflection helped Jesus weather the storms of life.)

Shakespeare the Prophet?

I continued in our "I Am Free" series this past weekend by speaking on being Free to Live for God. My Big Idea was that "being free to live means being free to love."

To explain this, I broke down the balcony scene of Romeo & Juliet and applied Scripture to various points of dialogue to provide a picture of the kind of love we are to have for Christ. The idea for this came from Donald Miller in his book, "Searching for God Knows What." I thoroughly enjoyed doing the preparation for this message; I simply hoped it would connect with people.

The people who enjoy literature absolutely loved it. The people who didn't necessarily like studying Shakespeare in high school were a little concerned at the beginning but understood where I was going by the end.

I am including below the text from an email I received from a woman in the church. In it you will catch a glimpse of why I love what I do - despite the occasional Saturday night sweats. I wrote back to her for permission to share this on my blog. I also thanked her for allowing me simply to be a part of the story God is writing in her life.

************************************************
[email message from earlier today - name withheld]

I love Shakespeare. In High School, I got it, and that made me feel good. I got it & I liked it & I enjoyed conveying it to those who didn't get it. I love to read, and since High School, anytime I get to sit down & read Shakespeare to the point of comprehension & enjoyment is a victory in this busy life - a victory I so rarely get.

When my daughters were born, I started a tradition. Every year at Christmas, I bought them a book. My theory was that if I started before they had hair, then by the time they were old enough to read they would already have an enjoyable library. Now - at 9 & 10 - they love to read so much that I could put nothing but books under the tree. Not that I ever would...

When they were 2 & 3, I bought a book called "Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children". I loved it more than they did. I still do - simple text conveying the wonderful stories in a way even a child can understand - Hamlet & Ophelia illustrated as children, even as they play out such adult themes as betrayal, vengance, or even suicide.

This summer, in my search for "things for kids to do after camp, so that the rest of the summer doesn't suck compared to camp", I found a class for girls ages 8-18 at Depaul University. It was called "Shakespeare for Girls: the art of physical storytelling" Do I have to tell you what my girls did last week? Jessica was MacBeth, & Rachel was in A Midsummernight's Dream. We pulled out the old book, we held plays in the living room, and once again, I got the joy of watching my daughters enjoy something I enjoy.

Today, I went to church. I've been "back" at church for 5 months now. I am still overwhelmed by how much I took for granted "before"...before when I was as much a part of my church as the bricks & pews. Now I have yet, in 5 months, to sit next to someone & know their name. It's the place I'm meant to be right now, but it is nonetheless a strange place for someone who probably averaged 4 days a week in the same church over a period of 15 years ... "before"

So I'm sitting in church, settling in during the music, hoping for 1 more song to get my mind away from this headache & into the place where it needs to be. I flip over the bulletin, to the place where I can fall into my obsessive disorder of filling in every blank, and instead of quizzing myself by seeing how many of the scripture references I can get without looking them up, I'm faced with ... Shakespeare - Romeo & Juliet, to be precise - the balcony scene...

I immediately spot the sun & moon comparison, and relate at once to Romeo's disillusionment with false love shattering in the face of a love that is true. But still, the sermon surprises me with a comparison of Juliet to Christ, and a fresh perspective is brought to bear on my life, my own disillusionment, and most of all, on Christ in me, the hope of glory.

Late this afternoon, as I started up my favorite bike path in all the world, I was thinking about this place in my life where I find myself. It is certainly a valley, one I hope doesn't last. But different from other low points in my life, I don't dread my time here or wish to escape it sooner than God would have me to. This time, I find a sweetness & a humility in this place, and I am enjoying the knowlege that every nook & cranny of this place is designed for my benefit, my healing, and my good.

Still, as I pedalled north, I pondered what it was about this valley that I wouldn't miss. The answer was "disconnection" - different from lonliness, as that is not appropriate. I am busy, successful at work, in a good church, and spending better time with my children than I ever have. But I definitely am lacking the intimacy that I have been accustomed to knowing in my relationships. Now, mind you, I left my church, divorced my husband & cohabitated for over a year w/ a non believer, so one can hardly consider the current state of affairs as anything but for my benefit, my healing and my good. Yet it wasn't difficult to pinpoint my least favorite part of this point in my life.

Lost in my thoughts, and easily winning the battle against self pity (again, there is so much good in this place), I missed the place where I usually cross the river. Further north, I found a different bridge, that led right into the Batavia RiverWalk park. I heard amplified voices, & noticed a crowd. It wasn't near dark yet, so I figured I'd take a break instead of going further on or turning around. As I approached, the costumes, the verbage, the whole flavor was unmistakable. Midsummernight's Theater presents Shakespeare in the Park - Much Ado About Nothing - Batavia Riverwalk, July 23 @ 7pm.

You've got to be kidding me. What was I just saying about feeling disconnected? Strike that, Lord. Leave me in this place, this place where you are positively ridiculous, utterly hilarious, over the top, and completely committed to showing me how much you love me - truly, madly, deeply. And help me to throw my head back & laugh with a joy I've never known to experience that love in big ways, small ways, medium ways, so many ways.

I am free to live. The very circumstances I bemoan leave me free on a Sunday afternoon to do what I want, when I want & experience something wonderful. I am more free than I've ever been to live & work & parent & minister & laugh & love & read & be loved by one who would pursue me with such reckless abandon as to leave heaven itself & bear the shame of a Roman cross and to further meet me in the park on a perfect midsummer's eve and remind me that I am never alone, & least of all when I'm alone.

No, no, no...

I took my 18-month old daughter, Morgan, to our local library this evening. As she walked through the aisles, she reached out and ran her hand along the books and videos. The whole time, she was saying, "no, no, no...no, no, no..."

We have taught her not to pull the books and videos off the shelves, and yet she couldn't resist reaching out to touch them. She was being obedient, but just barely. You could see the gleam in her eyes as she kept looking up at me to see if the rules had changed.

How often we are like my daughter! We know the things in life that God has asked us to avoid, yet we cannot resist getting as close as possible without breaking the rules. The problem is... as we continually run our hands over the things we are to avoid, the desire to take the next step grows and grows. Every now and again, we look to our Father to see if he is still watching. Can I still not touch this? Have the rules changed yet?

One day, we can no longer resist, and we pull them off the shelves and cross the line of obedience.

Perhaps instead of running our hands along the "books" and "videos" of life, we should avoid them completely. Perhaps we should discover those things that our Father wants us to embrace and enjoy life as He intended.

Free to Run

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to teach on being Free to Run in our relationship with Christ. My primary text was Hebrews 12:1 - "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." As people came into the services, we gave each of them a fist-sized rock to hold onto. During the course of the message, I used the rocks to symbolize the burdens we all carry.

Some of these burdens are from life in general - grief, accidents, loss, etc. Some burdens come from other people - disappointment, unrealistic expectations, abuse, gossip, etc. For other burdens, though, we have nobody to blame but ourselves - busyness, stress, burnout, lust, anger, bitterness, etc.

We closed the service with a special time of communion. We had everybody in the church come forward and place their rock in a metal tub placed at the foot of the stage - thus letting go of their burdens - before stepping over to eat the bread and drink the juice. It was humbling to see everyone respond to the teaching. The sound of the rocks hitting the metal tub and tumbling over the other rocks has been resonating in my mind ever since.

I closed out the service by talking about the scene in Forrest Gump where his braces come off his legs as he is running away from the three bullies who are pelting him with rocks. It is in this scene that we hear the oft-quoted line, "Run, Forrest, run!"

I told the audience I believe God is saying to us today, "Run, Church, run!" My hope is that we will accept His challenge. I hope that we can throw off our burdens of tradition, personal opinion, and lack of involvement and run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

We have an amazing opportunity before us with this new facility. Will we have the courage to come together as the church and use this opportunity to start a revolution in the Fox Valley area? It will not be easy, but I promise you the rewards will be great!