Dancing With Cinderella

I'm sitting here weeping for a family I've never met, but know very well.

Yesterday Steven Curtis Chapman's 5-year-old daughter, Maria Sue, was accidentally killed by a sport utility vehicle driven by her older brother, authorities said.

This is the message posted on Steven Curtis Chapman's website:

At approximately 5pm on the afternoon of Wednesday May 21st, Maria Sue Chapman, 5 years old and the youngest daughter to Steven and Mary Beth Chapman was struck in the driveway of the Chapman home in Franklin, TN. Maria was rushed to Vanderbilt Childrens Hospital in Nashville, transported by LifeFlight, but died of her injuries there. Maria is one of the close knit family’s six children and one of their three adopted daughters. More than five years ago, Chapman and his wife MaryBeth founded The Shaohannah’s Hope Ministry after bringing their first adopted daughter, Shaohannah, home from China. The ministry’s goal is to help families reduce the financial barrier of adoption, and has provided grants to over 1700 families wishing to adopt orphans from around the world. Chapman is a five-time GRAMMY ® winner and 54-time Dove Award winning artist who has sold over 10 million albums and garnered 44 No. 1 singles.

Maria and her sister Stevie Joy were the inspiration for Chapman's hit song, Cinderella.

Here's a clip of Maria and her sister with their father on vacation.

I can't imagine the pain that the Chapman family is experiencing right now. The grief must be overwhelming. I'm praying that this family will also be overwhelmed by God's comfort and healing power.

One minute ago my 5-year-old son came into my room and asked me if I had the time to get his favorite G.I. Joe off of the roof.

An hour ago I might have said, "I'll get it down before the end of the week. Play with another one"

Now, everything has changed, so I told Sylas, "Sure, let's get him down now."

So--if you'll excuse me--I'm off to dance with one of my Cinderellas.

My Grandpa and African-American Evangelism

My mom called this morning and we talked about her recent visit to the college my Grandfather, Tibbs Maxey, started in Louisville. It's called the College of the Scriptures and Grandpa started it in 1945 to train black men and women for ministry.

It's still in existence today, but moving to a new location because they recently lost their campus when a local railroad company claimed their property under the pretense of eminent domain.

My Mom and her sisters when to the College to sort through my Grandpa's files before the move. Mom saw several alumni of the College who she knew when they were young students many decades ago. She was excited to hear that they are still faithfully serving the Lord today--many in churches my Grandpa helped to start.

My Grandparents started a lot of black churches in their lifetime. It was such a vibrant and fluid process that we lost count over the years, but thankfully many of those churches are still extant and thriving today. One of the most successful churches my grandfather planted, Washington Shores Church of Christ is in my hometown, Orlando, Florida.

Grandpa didn't work with an African-American church-planting organization, because there wasn't one back then. Sadly, during that time many churches seemed completely apathetic to the spiritual needs of black people in America. God laid a passion on my Grandpa's heart to reach black people for Christ during a time of intense prejudice and racial tension.

Grandpa experienced a lot of resistance when he approached churches with his vision to start the College of the Scriptures and plant black churches. He wrote many books in his lifetime. One of his books, One Wide River, details the struggles he encountered in his calling to cross-cultural evangelism.

An article last year in Christian Standard by Ray Kelley reminded me that many of the struggles my Grandfather faced in reaching African-Americans are still around today.

Mr. Kelley starts his article with some background information before making 5 observations about our efforts to reach minorities:

In a February 1992 Restoration Herald article, I discussed a basic philosophy concerning racial integration. A minister in Arizona had asked for specific methods he could implement to help integrate his congregation. My response presented the reality that it is very difficult for a congregation to integrate if its local community is not diverse.

Generally speaking, a congregation should reflect the racial makeup of the community in which it ministers.

It would be easy to apply this basic concept to our brotherhood and attempt to justify the lack of minorities in our local congregations. The rationale goes something like this: historically, our congregations have always been located in predominantly white communities; therefore, we have not reached minority groups.

Of course, there are major flaws in this logic.

First, the original all-white areas where our congregations were built more than 100 years ago are now very diverse or predominantly minority. A good example is Fredrick Price’s thriving congregation in Los Angeles that was once an independent Christian church.

Second, we have moved away from minorities for well over 100 years (W. A. Moore addressed his concern with churches leaving the city in a 1917 Christian Standard article).

Third, our major church-planting efforts continue to be in predominantly white suburbs.

Fourth, the United States is our field of evangelism, and more than 12.5 percent of that field is African-American; yet, we have not made strategic efforts to reach that population.

Fifth, those efforts to plant minority churches are generally underfunded, understaffed, and quickly terminated.

I encourage you to read the rest of this article: African-American Evangelism: Where are we and where are we going?

Are we really doing all we can to reach ALL people for Jesus?

Does your congregation the racial makeup of the community in which it ministers?

If not, what are you going to do about it?

What are we going to do about it?

Ben Merold

Last month I had the privilege of spending some time with Ben and Pat Merold. They are humble people who have been used by God to do some amazing things.

Ben is the Sr. Minister at Harvester Christian Church in St. Charles, Missouri. Ben began preaching in 1948, and beyond leading churches in four states, he has preached the gospel in 47 states and seven foreign countries. Ben has been senior minister at Harvester Christian Church, in St. Charles, Missouri for 16 years and in that time Harvester has grown from under 200 people to an average attendance of 3,500 today.

Over dinner Ben shared a few stories from his ministry. His stories were fascinating. I told him he should write a book. Please Ben! :)

So, it goes without saying that I was so excited to see an article from Ben in the most recent edition of Christian Standard's Enewsletter entitled, Surprises From My 50 Years of Ministry.

It's a great read!

Here's an excerpt:

At about age 51 I purchased my first pair of eyeglasses after an eye examination. On the Sunday night after receiving my glasses I started a series of sermons at a church in central California.

On Monday afternoon we called on a man who was about as belligerent as anyone I have ever met. He was rude and insulting, but I did manage to show him some of the Scriptures concerning sin and salvation. That night I sat on the front pew trying to read the words of the songs through my new glasses. I was having a hard time adjusting to them and, in disgust, took them off and left them on that pew as I got up to preach.

When we extended the invitation this rude guy came down the aisle all the way from the back of the building. His appearance led me to believe he was coming to fight me. However, he stopped in front of the Communion table, let out an audible sigh, dropped down on the front pew, and smashed my new glasses.

He never knew it, and I never told him. He confessed Christ as Savior and was baptized—it changed his life and his attitude.

By the way, I was able to have another pair of glasses made within two days. I had seen the convicting power of the Holy Spirit work through the Word of God and change that man into a new creation. I still think the price of another pair of glasses was worth it.

Of finished basements, lock boxes, and a meal with Jesus

My wife, eldest daughter, and I spent the weekend in Greeley looking for a house with a realtor named Ron.

Ron was amazing and so friendly. He was like a walking, talking, happy encyclopedia of Greeley, Colorado . . . and real estate. Patiently and very meticulously Ron showed us about a dozen homes available for purchase or renting.

It was an interesting experience . . . going through other peoples' homes. Walking into their bedrooms. Looking in their closets. Standing in their bathrooms. Getting both positive and negative impressions of them based solely on the smell of their house, the color of paint in their kitchen, the pictures of their well-dressed pets on the wall, or whether or not they had finished their basement or not.

Coming from Florida--where there are no basements--we were so excited to discover the wonder called a "finished basement"!

Shopping for a house was also interesting because--as people with a house for sale ourselves--we know how desperately people want to sell their houses these days, so we found ourselves feeling a little empathy for the owners of the houses we didn't like.

But the thing that I found the most interesting --after some reflection--was that we couldn't even get into three of the houses. The owners of these houses each had a lock box on their houses that was impenetrable. Ron tried and tried and tried but could not get the lock box to open so he could retrieve the house key locked safely inside.

It was frustrating.

We wanted to see the house.

Ron wanted us to see the house.

The sign in the yard indicated that the owners wanted to sell the house, but we couldn't get in guaranteeing that all of us were going to be disappointed.

It made me think about the countless lost people who say that they want hope, love, peace, and a new life, but who also keep Jesus locked out.

How sad.

I want lost people to know that Jesus wants to move in, unpack, fill up their "house" with good things, prepare a nice meal, and eat it with them.

Jesus said, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." Revelation 3:20

I want lost people to know that locking Jesus out only guarantees that both he and they are going to be disappointed.

Oh…we found a house to rent. It’s beautiful. The nice lady welcomed us in. We looked around and fell in love with her house. We’ll move in three weeks. I can tell you that we and our landlord are the exact opposite of disappointed.

Judah and His Family Are Safe

Praise God!

I just received this note (forwarded to me) from Judah Tangshing in Myanmar.

" We are safe by His protection and mercy. At cyclone night, we were frightened alot, it was the worst disaster in histroy in Myanmar. Countless lost their homes and over a thousand lives lost their lives.

After four days, the phone starts ringing and I can email you, but electric does not come yet.

Talk to you later. Love, Judah"

ESPN's Powerful Presentation of a Beautiful Act of Sportsmanship

As promised, here's a copy of the story that ESPN produced on Sara Tucholsky's first homerun and the two girls who carried her home.

An amazing story of sportmanship

I'm fascinated with this story of Sportsmanship. I told this story in my sermon yesterday at Real Life Christian Church in Clermont, Florida.

Today Sportscenter on ESPN has a really emotional piece on this event. (If I can get that one I'll post it later.)

Here's an interview they did with the ladies right after it happened.



Here's an excerpt from an article on the event:

Central entered Saturday's doubleheader one game behind Western Oregon in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference race. At stake was a bid to the NCAA's Division II playoffs. Western won the first game 8-1, extending its winning streak to 10 games. Central desperately needed the second game to keep its postseason hopes alive.

Western Oregon's 5-foot-2-inch right fielder came up to bat with two runners on base in the second inning. Sara Tucholsky's game was off to a rough start. A group of about eight guys sitting behind the right field fence had been heckling her.

"They were giving me a pretty hard time," said Tucholsky, a Forest Grove High School graduate. "They were just being boys, trying to get in my head."

At the plate, Tucholsky concentrated on ignoring the wise guys. She took strike one. And then the senior did something she had never done before -- even in batting practice. The career .153 hitter smashed the next pitch over the center field fence for an apparent three-run home run.

The exuberant former high school point guard sprinted to first. As she reached the bag, she looked up to watch the ball clear the fence and missed first base. Six feet past the bag, she stopped abruptly to return and touch it. But something gave in her right knee; she collapsed on the base path.

"I was in a lot of pain," she told The Oregonian on Tuesday. "Our first-base coach was telling me I had to crawl back to first base. 'I can't touch you,' she said, 'or you'll be out. I can't help you.' "

Tucholsky, to the horror of teammates and spectators, crawled through the dirt and the pain back to first.

Western coach Pam Knox rushed onto the field and talked to the umpires near the pitcher's mound. The umpires said Knox could place a substitute runner at first. Tucholsky would be credited with a single and two RBIs, but her home run would be erased.

"The umpires said a player cannot be assisted by their team around the bases," Knox said. "But it is her only home run in four years. She is going to kill me if we sub and take it away. But at same time I was concerned for her. I didn't know what to do. . . .

"That is when Mallory stepped in."

Mallory Holtman is the greatest softball player in Central Washington history. Normally when the conference's all-time home run leader steps up to the plate, Pam Knox and other conference coaches grimace.

But on senior day, the first baseman volunteered a simple, selfless solution to her opponents' dilemma: What if the Central Washington players carried Tucholsky around the bases?

The umpires said nothing in the rule book precluded help from the opposition. Holtman asked her teammate junior shortstop and honors program student Liz Wallace of Florence, Mont., to lend a hand. The teammates walked over and picked up Tucholsky and resumed the home-run walk, pausing at each base to allow Tucholsky to touch the bag with her uninjured leg.
"We started laughing when we touched second base," Holtman said. "I said, 'I wonder what this must look like to other people.' "

I love what Mallory says, "I wonder what this must look like to other people."

I'll tell you what it looks like to me.

It looks like the love of Jesus.

Please Pray for Judah Tangshing, His Family, and His Church

My friend Judah and his family live and serve just outside of Yangon.

Here's news from their region:

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Almost 4,000 people were killed and nearly 3,000 others are unaccounted for in a single town after a devastating cyclone in Myanmar, a state radio station said Monday. Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, early Saturday with winds of up to 120 mph. The cyclone blew roofs off hospitals and schools and cut electricity.
On Sunday, the government had put the death toll countrywide at 351 people.

Please pray for Judah and his family.

The Next Step on Our Journey

I'm excited to let you know that I've accepted the call to be the Senior Minister at Journey Christian Church in Greeley, Colorado.

Journey is an 8-year-old church located about an hour north of Denver and about 50 minutes east of Rocky Mountain National Park. It's a beautiful part of the country.


(Here's a picture one of the Elders at Journey sent me. He took it while driving around Greeley.)

Journey has a new building, a wonderful leadership team, a loving congregation with tons of faith and vision, and a bright future in a town that is experiencing explosive growth.

My wife and I are so very excited about this opportunity.

We will miss the dear people at Christ's Church, so much.

My last day at Christ's Church is May 18th.