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Jill, this is the little girl that cracks me up - she’s so sweet - sunglasses helps her worship!

This is “Zoom” - he’s one of the new exchange students from Hanoi - he turned 17 Sunday and we ate at a Mexican restaurant - he’s an awesome young man.  This year there are 9 from Hanoi - they’re all smart, sharp, promising, and we are glad they are with us!!!  He reminds Nikki and I a lot of Ti - he’s absolutely wonderfully crazy and funny!

Jill, here are some potential men who love God, are real Chineese but grew up in Malaysia - keep them on your potential possibilty list - don’t forget what I’ve always told you - marry Chineese - they are about to rule the world - and finish the Great Commission!

I LOVED Pepperdine University.  It’s not a university - it’s a resort!  It is on the cliffs of Malibu, California - wow - I’d never have made it there.  I’d be too busy hiking in the mountains or on the beach.  There was great response to my “talk” and afterwards I had a lot of college students come up talking to me about what they were looking at doing globally and how integrate their faith with it.  I also met some of the college kids who were involved in different global projects.  I really was blown away by the school and the student body.  Dr. Charles Hall is Dean of the international programs and he gets it.  He’s assembled a great team of people to drive his department.  We ate on the beach at some place called Dukes - we watched the dophins in the ocean and ate Mahi Mahi on our plate!  Thanks for a great time Charles. 

OK, I’ll write more serious blogs later - just catching up for now. 

Who would think labor day would be such an incredible weekend for a church but it was for us.  You have to go to the http://www.northwoodchurch.org web-site and listen to the message - he was given a standing ovation.  Later in the evening he talked about men and marriage and leadership and it was awesome.  We love you John Jenkins!

There’s been a whole lot of people meet Jesus this weekend at NorthWood - baptized a lot of people - saw God do some cool stuff.  Great worship service with Mazhar - just an incredible weekend.  There’s no one that has been a greater blessing to me personally than Ric Burkhardt.  He was trained as a wrestler under the Von Erick’s - and then became a referee.  He’s been on TV shows and lots of other things - also on the pay per view matches.  A couple of years ago he accepted Christ as his personal savior.  He turned 50 last week and I got to go to his party.  This is me and him - in another picture I got to visit with 2 other young guys that are wrestlers that were out of their costumes!  I’ve seen them fight before - they put on one incredible show.  Danny Matthews is on the left and on the right is Scott McKenzie.  I still don’t get it all - they have matches with no rules no holds barred - so why do you need a ref Rick?!!!!  Happy birthday man - glad you and I are in the same family!

Today is the last day I will go in to my office and be working with Mrs. Johnnie Morgan.  Obviously I’m sad about it.  For the past 9 years she has been my executive assistant.  I will forever be grateful.  No matter where I go around the world, or people that I meet with, she always is brought up by others.  She’s a class act.  She can deal with the most needy or the most powerful in any situation or place.  She has been here as the ministry has grown substantially and grown with it.  She’s always ahead of the game, always on top if not in front of things.  She’s rare and will be missed by me significantly. Thank you Johnnie for all you mean to me, my family, NorthWood, and the kingdom of God.  You’re the best -

Great article.  A must read for everyone!

I hope you like the new look of the blog.  I’m pumped about it.  Now, I can add pictures, lots of them, from wherever I am in the World—and meetings.  I like that blue map - to see who’s around.  Bobby’s gonna have to teach me some stuff . . . Maybe we can get the pictures from our trip to Kenya up—we had some cool stuff there. 

I haven’t been blogging because I’m writing.  Give me another week and I’ll starting writing more.  I’m learning a lot.  Putting on paper what I’ve been observing and learning the past 24 months.  I’m moving into a whole new dimension in my thinking on faith, society, church, and what God means when He says things . . . but later for that . . . I’m in the middle of my fourth book.  It’s for everyone, not just preachers and church leaders. Its on how to use your job to change the world.  Yesterday was a very powerful day for me.  I’ve written the corpus of the book; but I began interviewing NorthWood members that are doing stuff around the world and in our community. WOW.  I live here, so I get used to it. But hearing all the stories, I was filled with emotion and even tears listening to what this “community,” of which I’m a part, is doing. 

I heard from young people who grew up here who are doing everything from living in the inner-city to starting global companies.  I heard from teachers, businessmen—even a church planter. I’m so, so, so, so, so, very grateful God has allowed me to be a part of all this. 

Saturday, I spent the day with my daughter Jill at Mission Waco.  Nikki and I are so proud of her.  She showed us her classroom where she teaches at-risk children, then the homeless shelter where she checks people in, then the house she lives in, then some of the other programs she’s involved in.  Sunday Ben and Ashley, my son and daughter-in-law, were with us—listenning to Ben talk about how he is merging his faith and business is exciting. 

This is the kind of stuff I’m going to write about.  It will be more of engagement and current issues and how faith intersects and how the church responds to cultures and communities in action.  That’s missional.  I’m tired of …

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On pda so typing not pretty—concluded our meetings today. It is going to be a fun ride—been a huge learning curve for me—will write more later on all that. I came worried that I might be the biggest obstacle being American and from the West. I did my best to walk softly—hard being a Texican—When I’ve been with other cultures and gone deep, it was one culture at a time which allowed me to go fast or slow depending on the person and it’s never been that hard for me—-I also assumed it was harder for Americans to relate to other cultures—I was wrong—there were many cultural differences between others that were challenging——I was able to bridge some of it—mediate—this will be hard work but crucial work—we have to do this.

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