The ubiquitous Willow Creek has discovered that what they're doing isn't working; their strategy is not resulting in the dedicated Christ followers they were hoping for.

So they've launched the REVEAL project to help churches learn what's working and what's not. Check-out this video from REVEAL it gave us goose bumps.

Another story of God transforming lives...

NOVEMBER 2006

I felt several huge lumps in my throat after what I saw. We stayed over a friend's house on the day of our arrival in Manila, Philippines. After our stay, we drove around through side streets and came to a stop at what looked like abandoned railroad tracks. To the right of the tracks, I noticed that there were houses made up of thin metal walls and roofs piled on top of each other. It looked like rows of huge triple whopper burgers made of metal. Each tomato and vegetable that hung off the metal casements were multi color shirts drying in the sun. Suddenly, I saw an undressed toddler skipping through the railroad tracks.

I inched forward to view more of the action and to my amazement, that boy was not alone. These boys were playing. I then turned to my left and saw similar housing units made of tin, piled on top of each other. The railroad tracks continued to slither underneath an overpass into a dark tunnel of other homes. From those homes came people making fire with pieces of wood and charcoal. What's for lunch?

As our car moved forward, I asked my wife if these tracks were still used and she said yes. She was reminded of how she passed through these tracks on her commute to school. My sad that this was common back then. Certainly not much has changed. How could this be common? Why should this be common? I sat in disarray as I continued to watch the track babies play. The things I'd do if my baby was on those tracks. That's when I felt the birth of irritation well up inside me. The most obvious problem for these children were their immediate needs; food, shelter, and clothing. My biggest problem was being embarrassed from a sweaty shirt. Their problem was trying not get hit by a train. What were my problems?

SEPTEMBER 2007

A missionary girl came to my church in Jersey asking for support for open heart surgery, which by the way went great, praise God. They showed a video of the mission's ministry our church supported and I began to weep bitterly for the selfishness that we as comfortable Christians accumulate. The biggest problem that these children had was to get a roof on their head. My biggest problem was trying to purchase another piece of property. These kids had no properties! They had no homes! What a humbling experience. I was stirred with such a restless urgency to do something. The second push of disturbance continued to push from inside and God would not allow me to sleep that night.

CATALYST, OCTOBER 2007

I came to Catalyst looking for a time of encouragement and replenishment. Oh boy was I in for it. Yeah I got the "keep on keeping on" themes, and "people care", but my goodness, God packs a punch when He speaks. God confirmed and affirmed His calling in my life when Catalyst showed Toms shoes and a talk from Pastor Rick Warren. Throughout the electrical rock and roll sounds, I found myself weeping in the presence of God almighty. What was my problem? There's an ocean of people starving for God. What was my problem? My biggest problem was a delayed flight before Catalyst. Poor me! Part of Africa's problem is genocide. What was my problem? My fellow Filipinos in the Philippines biggest problems are no opportunities for education. What was my problem?

I did not sleep that night or the following nights.

I'm taking a leap like I've never done before. Sure I've done ministry, but not this. Please continue to pray for me as I ask God to "use me" and continue to "disturb me". God's birthed a passion in my heart see students in the Philippines succeed and get the proper financial support they need to get into college and hopefully one day help their peers do the same. It's my hope that I can teach them to fish so that they can teach others. I understand a nation can't be changed over night, but with God all things are possible. If any one of you reads this post or has resources on how to start a work like this, please let me know. I'm taking all the wise counsel and support I can get from fellow disturbed and experienced Catalyst attendees. God bless you all.

Enrique

Nehemiah 2:17

17Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace." 18 I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, "Let us start rebuilding." So they began this good work.

wearewhatwedo.org is a clever website which unites people around getting things done. With almost 1 Million actions completed, their website encourages us that small changes made by lots of people can have a huge impact. Although their focus is the environment, perhaps the Church could use a similar technique to motivate and organize the body to be more like Jesus...

For all of the visually-stimulated, the-messenger-is-the-message, design geeks, here's some interesting marketing materials from Church Marketing Sucks.com...

Dave Kinnaman, author of unChristian, was recently featured in this article from Time Magazine on "Christianity's Image Problem" - read more...