ChurchPlanters.com "Giving You Permission"

Leaving

Sometimes leaving is difficult...other times it is really easy.  Well I got one of those calls where leaving is really easy.  It is official, as I write this blog, my son is going through customs and about to board a military plane that will take him out of Afghanistan...That's right, Afghanistan is in our rear view mirror.  We are looking ahead...kill the fatted calf, we are about to party!

After fifteen long months he is out of there...We are beaming with excitement, pride, joy, thanksgiving, hope, encouragement, gratefulness, and any other word you can use describe an emotional state of sheer beside yourself positive energy. 

I will blog more on this later, but I've got to go...I've got a meeting at Starbucks!

Peace!

Overwhelmed

(ATL Airport in October during Dave's 18 day Leave...You hadn't seen nothing yet!)

I am absolutely overwhelmed in the most positive of ways.  My son is coming home!  While he is still in Afghanistan he has gone out on his last mission...he has been extracted from his FOB...he is being debrief and in a few short days he and some 1000 troops will board their military planes and start the long trip home.  He will arrive at the Green Ramp at Fort Bragg the home of the All American.  I will be among the many proud parents, spouses, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts, friends, military personnel, diplomats, news reporters, veterans, and patriots, etc. welcoming home some of the bravest men and women in all of history.  For the first time in months we will be together as a family. 

For a few days I will be first and foremost a dad.  I will take a break from following the war and focus on welcome home my son...my hero.  We will ride our motorcycles...play video games...go to movies...eat a lot of good food...talk about old times...dream about the future...and experience moments of overwhelming pride, appreciate, gratefulness, and worship. 

Over the past 15 months I have constantly been reminded of God's amazing grace.  Almost every day I have received phone calls, e-mails, and comments asking about my son's well being and assured of so many of your prayers.  I have read Psalm 91 hundreds of times and been reminded of God's protection and provision each time I received a phone call that he had been in a firefight, ambush, rocket attack, or IED explosion and walked away unharmed.  I'm sure in time this reality will become even more apparent when long intimate conversations with my son become a source of healing for all.

I can't wait to meet his fellow troops and families members that we have grown close to over the past months through myspace...one of the key ways we have kept in touch and built a network of support.  We have prayed for and with and cried for and with people we didn't know.  Over time we have become a family. 

I am so grateful to my family, my family at MLC, my church planting family, and my new military family for being a source of strength and comfort for Tami, Amanda, and me.

Finally, Welcome home my son! 

My First Church Plant

Let the movement begin!  Rick Warren was right when he said, "We tend to overestimate what we can do in a short period of time and we underestimate what we can do over a long period of time."  My good friend and pastor of Crossroad's Church e-mailed me the link to his blog with this picture.  While you can't tell the guy behind the podium is me, this was my very first church plant that launched on March 26, 1989.  We had 178 people attend and we met in an elementary school.  Here is an excerpt from Ken Adam's blog,

"This past weekend we had over 6500 people attending in seven different Crossroads Churches in the U.S. That wouldn't have happened if this church had not been planted nineteen years ago. At Crossroads of Newnan we had over 3900 people walk in the doors of our church this past weekend. Dozens of people raised their hand indicating they had accepted Christ in our services."

Is that cool or what!  To read Ken's blog click here.

Probabilty

We finally got a definitive word from the military when our son will return from Afghanistan. In order to understand their answer you have to know something about conditional probability   Conditional probability states that the probability of event A (Dave arriving at the Green Ramp at Fort Bragg at a specific time) is conditioned on a sequence of other events happening.  The challenge is that these other events share the same dynamic nature and therefore are impacted by similar variables, like joint or marginal probability. 

In order to determine the probability of a certain event happening, based on a conditional relationship, mathmatically looks like this P(A|B) = P(AnB)/P(B.  However, in this case the complexities are multiplied by the introduction of multiple conditional probabilities. 

Here are the variables: 
1) He will be extracted from his FOB (forward operational base) within 48 hours. 
2) He will be transported to a the major staging area for the military in Afghanistan where his stay there will not exceed seven days, but may be less. 
3) From there he will fly to another major staging area outside the US where he will spend 48 hours. 
4) Leaving there he will fly directly or indirectly to Fort Bragg where we are going to have one of the most amazing celebrations imagined.  The celebration is not a variable. 

Given that we received this word on March 25th here is what we understood the definitive word from the military to mean.  Our son will be home no later than April 6, unless there is some conditional variable that upsets this sequence of related variables.  However, given the probability that he may not stay the full seven days at variable 2, he could arrive home prior to the 6th. 

It's great to finally get a definite answer! 

Two Choppers

Let's go boys...we are out of here.  Fifteen long months are behind you.  You can hear the whoooomp, whooomp, whooomp, whoooomp of the huge rotors of the CH 47 Chinook Chopper.  The last time you heard that sound you were being inserted into the middle of a TOP SECRET Operation.  This time all you can think about is that you are going home.  You made it, you are really going home.  You long for what is normal, but normal isn't normal anymore.  Your family awaits.  Troops that have been scattered by the war will unite once again under the flag of the 82nd.  Some did not make it...rumors have echoed off the distant mountains of the battlefield...some were not rumors.  The wounded will be united with the less wounded...none have escaped unharmed. 
Those of us back home will embrace our loved ones.  I'll complete a tattoo I started fifteen months ago.  A book I dedicated to my son released under the caption "Welcome Home" stays.  My tears will meet my pride...I've never stood so close to a real live hero...my son, and the brave men of the 82nd Airborne 4-73 Cav Recon. 

For now I wait...each day seems like an eternity.  When will my phone ring...when will I hear his voice?  I am not alone...there are 1000 families that wait with me.  They are now my family...we are now America's family.  We have paid a price...tears and pride once again mingle.  Soon...very soon our wait will be over.  The phone will ring and we will gather at the Green Ramp.  It will be heaven.  It was hell when he left...when we didn't hear from him...when we got word that their was an ambush...an IED had exploded.   It was hell when we read of another brother who had fallen...it was hell last night when we heard that 4000 had fallen in Iraq.  It will be hell as long as the war continues...It will be hell when the call comes once again, another deployment scheduled for '09.  For now it will soon be heaven when reunions will not want...

Whoooomp, whoooooomp, whoooooooomp...another chopper...this time it's a Harley.  The sun is beaming brightly on our faces as we head to the coast.  Healing is in the air...for now the war is behind us.  I'm cruising down the road with my son....

Soon....but for now I wait...I wait on that call...I wait on that reunion...I wait on that touch...I wait on that assurance...I wait on that joy...I wait on that peace...I wait. 

Waiting for a Call!

Waiting is tough...the more at stake the tougher it is.  I'm waiting for a call from my son saying he is headed home from Afghanistan.  The first call came early in March.  Good news he was headed home in 10 days.  The next call...change of plans...headed home on the 24th.  Today's the 24th...I'm waiting on my next call...it could be today or it could be next week...all I can do is wait. 

I will keep you posted...get ready to party. 

Best Practice: Nurture Vitality

I just completed a book proposal for our Best Practices.  Man has that been hanging over my head.  This is something that Shawn Lovejoy and I feel strongly about.  We know God has called us to write this book; we have simply been dragging our tails.  At the same time we have been learning so much about these practices...I really believe the timing is right.  Anyway, I sent the document off to another great leader who will hopefully agree to work her magic so my ramblings and rumblings will come to life. 

Speaking of Best Practices, our upcoming Best Practice Coaching Network will be on Nurturing Vitality.  In just a couple of weeks about a dozen of us will get together and spend six hours talking about this important practice.  God will use this time to encourage all of us to stay on track...it would be just like God to save someone's marriage, ministry, and life through this coaching network.  It is always amazing to me how loud God is in these times.  I can't wait. 

Speaking of Nurturing Vitality I, like you, have another busy day with meetings running up until about 8:00 pm.  The good news is Tami and I have managed to schedule about an hour at the fitness club between my last afternoon meeting and my evening meeting.  I can't wait.  I love hanging out at the gym with her.  We are going to have a blast running and lifting weights together.  I'm praying that I will be able to out bench press there soon.

On another front, and at the same time the same front, I heard from my son yesterday!  Yep. He is still in Afghanistan!  It is crazy.  He was supposed to leave on the 10th of the month.  Now it looks like the 24th at best.  He said the latest date he got for getting back to Fort Bragg is April 6th.  This waiting is really tough.  Please keep him in your prayers.  He is still going outside the wire every day on missions.  I'm not sure what he is doing, but I will be glad when he gets the heck out of there. 

On the other hand I'm glad he is committed to the best practice of nurturing vitality while in Afghanistan.  Check out the picture my daughter sent me from Facebook.  He is the one spotting the guy on the bench.  If I'm not mistaken the guy on the bench is Reece.  Reece is a big time lifter, as you can tell.  Reece was also wounded in action in December.  I'm glad he's okay...I'm glad he is back...I'm glad he is nurturing vitality.  I was looking forward to working out with my son while he is home on leave in June, at least until I saw this picture.  You see those guns on him?  If I were the enemy I would run if I saw these two guys coming my way. 

More At Stake

I found myself more engaged in worship last night.  I was sitting through my third service of the day...same band...same songs....same teaching....same teacher.  Yet at the same time I found myself more engaged.  There was a surge of redemptive energy flowing through my veins.  Maybe it was because my wife, Tami was sitting beside me.  She still has that affect on me.  Sorry Tami I think that help, but frankly I found myself more engaged because sitting beside Tami was two friends who don't always attend church. 

Then it hit me...Why are some people more engaged then others when it comes to our weekend services?  It's simple they have more at stake.  If you really want to inject new life into your own personal worship then make your worship about someone else.  That's right invite a disconnected friend to church and then watch God work.  I promise you your worship will be infused with power, expectation, desire, excitement, anticipation, energy, etc.

I'm Alive!

The lightening flashed.  I counted three beats of my heart as the nder exploded.  Pretty close.  My bike  made a looping sound as I cruised down the mountain road.  I was thirty minutes from home riding hard as the weather front nipped at my heels.  A similar front attacked downtown Atlanta last night and sent its occupants running for cover.  What do I do?  Do I stop?  Do I keep going?  The rain began to fall.  At 70 mph each drop felt like a dart as it pelted me in the face.  I pressed on...lightening was now flashing all around me.  Cars were slowing to a crawl.  Only the insane were out now...Yet I was on my motorcycle. By now I was totally drenched.  My boots had an inch of water in them...yet I felt alive...I mean more alive then you can imagine...more alive then yesterday.  A car approached me at a light.  They looked on me with pity.  I saw their compassion...poor guy.  Another car approached me...you could see their disdain...you idiot.  I could read their minds.  I wouldn't have traded places with them for any thing. 

I made it home...I pull up in the garage...gave my wife a big whoooooaaaahhhh!  I toweled off my bike like a lone steed and put her to rest.  I grab my copy of The Reason for God out of the saddlebags and retreated to my house...fully satisfied!!!!

Humility

I had a great conversation with my publisher the other day.  It's really neat to have the opportunity to get my second book out and to be working on my third. 

However, what really puts it in perspective is what happen while I worked on the marketing plan with them.  As my wife left for work she reminded me that the trash needed to be rolled out to the curb.  In typical fashion I found myself getting caught up in more important matters. 

About midway into my conversation with the guys from B&H I heard the garbage truck coming down the road.  At that point I went into an all out panic.  I jump up, ran out of the house, grab the trash, and cashed the truck up the street, never missing a beat with my conversation.  Obviously the folks on the other end of the phone wanted to know what I was doing.  Need I say they got a big kick out of the fact that I still chase garbage trucks...

However, more importantly I still do what my wife tells me to do.