Great perspective.

Are we really helping in Haiti? Interesting article by Tony Campolo. Click to check it out.

We Are The World 25 For Haiti

I love the Olympics for the beauty of people coming together from all over the world to compete on a stage where every athlete is equal.   No religious discrimination, no bigotry, no racism, no social class hierarchy.  To me it celebrates the beautiful diversity of God's creation.

They debuted "We Are The World 25 For Haiti."  It has been 25 years since the original "We Are The World" was produced.  Why did this new one move me on a lot deeper level than the original.  First is obviously the fact of have fresh in our minds the suffering of our neighbors in Haiti.  With the help of the media, both TV and the internet, we are more aware of what is going on in our world.  Next, the diversity of the talent that was assembled to make this new video is amazing.  From Tony Bennett, Bebe Winans, and Josh Groban, to Snoop Dogg and Carlos Santana.  Unbelievable.  I was not as impressed with the amazing talent as much as I was the was the sum of it all.  All of this very different talent came together to make something that is far greater than it ever could have if one artist put out this song.

This to me was an amazing picture of how God wants to combine our talents (yes, we all have something to contribute) to make a difference in others lives. God's desire to use each one of us to reconcile every        person on this planet to health and a restored relationship with Him through Jesus.

Whether you can give to help Haiti is not the issue.  The challenge is what will each one of us do so that together, we will make our world a better place and move people to a restored, renewed relationship with   our God.

Click the pic to see the video.

February Newsletter

Here is our February newsletter.  Click on it to get it big enough to read.  Thanks to you all!

Happy Anniversary to us!

Wow!  29 years!  Dana and I got married this day in a small church in Saline, Michigan.  We were both in college studying engineering and working for General Motors.  I never would have guessed we would be where we are now.

We lived in a small apartment half way between school and work.  There we got involved with a church youth program.  God used that to launch us into youth ministry.  In 1984, we loaded up our two boys and moved halfway across the country to Kansas City.  Here we have had so many great adventures with each other, friends, and thousands of teenagers.  Our lives have been filled with summer camp, Bible clubs, youth preaching club, rallies, high school assemblies, and mission trips while raising 5 great kids.  It's been a whirlwind, but we've enjoyed all of the good times and trusted God through all of the tough times.

We will keep on loving God and loving others and laughing a lot.  It's worked so far.

Happy Anniversary Dana.  Thanks for loving me and putting up with this crazy man.  And thank you God.  I am blessed.

Update on Feed The Hunger

Got this note from Kendon summarizing Youthfront's Feed The Hunger:

"We are 3 days into our 6 days of packaging, and the momentum is unbelievable. Our initial goal was to package 200,000 meals by the first week in February. To date we have packaged 142,560 meals to send to haiti, but our friends at Horizons Community Church in Lincoln, NE have stepped up to the plate and packaged an additional 28,000 meals to be delivered to us tomorrow. Over 1500 people and over 50 groups throughout the KC Metro have come together over the last two weeks to package meals. Together we have packaged 170,560 meals to ship to Haiti, and we still have three days of packaging left. Three days? you ask... We have decided to open up Wednesday, February 3 as a 6th and final day for groups to come and package meals to send to Haiti."