Back in December of 2008 we made a visit to our friend Marc Greene from Outreach Media in Oceanside, CA. During a lunch where we shared with him the 5 character traits behind Share5, he commented that we should share the concept more broadly by writing a book on it. I guess you could say he more than commented. He persuaded. He bribed. (He may have even DARED us a little bit…)
Bottom line was, when he made the comment at lunch that day, it just sat right with me. It registered in my spirit as a “Yes”. That week, we set out to figure out the process of writing a book.
God was, as always, faithful. We looked for a place to park for a little while to write while serving, and unbeknown to us, the woman whose home we were parked at also did writing clinics. She is a published author and was able to help me put some of the first concepts into the first words until they became the first chapters. God continued to provide both the insight for the writing and the resources for the tour, and just over a year later, we completed a manuscript and a series of accompanying case studies for what we would soon call “Share Well With Others – Creating a Life that Reflects the Character of Christ.”
This week, full circle and back in the very same parking spot that the book began in, we received the proof copy from our printer. As the ink dries on the first print run, we look forward to sharing it with you in the next weeks, and thank God for His amazing faithfulness!
See our first book as we open the package containing the very first printed copy. Public copies will be available June 1, 2010, so visit our site at http://share5.org/sharewell to order your copy today!
This is part 3 in our California Wrap-up series, highlighting our April and May travels in the state of California…
Mother’s Day weekend brought us an opportunity to share with the folks from New Heart Foursquare Church in Simi Valley (the sermon was Episode 1 of the new Share Well Podcast if you missed it!), but the preceding two weeks allowed us a little time to both relax, regroup, adjust to being a family of five in the RV, and possibly the most fun you can have with a sledgehammer, DO SOME DEMOLITION!!!
New Heart is in the middle of a sanctuary remodel, and they still had some wrap up demolition to do, so we all put on the work gloves and did everything from tearing out a wall to pulling staples from the stage where carpet had been removed. We were also allowed to throw out a few ideas for how the interior could possibly look and talk with those doing the design work to give them some new concepts to play with.
Pastor Paul Kuzma has been a great support and friend since we met a little over a year ago, and both he and his congregation continue to blow us away with their generosity. He even ran a 100′ cable over his fence from his house for us to have cable TV! Their staff and members are a blessing, and we’ll look forward to returning and seeing the finished project in the future!
Thanks to some new friends from The Rock Church in Anahiem, Ca where we visited immediately after the Catalyst Conference, we were blessed to be able to visit another Anaheim local, Mickey Mouse. (Pastors Todd and Erin Funk had several of their amazing interns at Catalyst serving a lunch, and we “happened” to connect with them while out taking a short walk around the Mariner’s Campus.) Combined with the two free tickets that we had from Disney’s Give a Day Get a Day campaign (remember the Linus Project Blankets?), two free Disney passes from a church member at the rock combined with some quick phone calls from Rock staff members equaled a FREE DAY AT DISNEY for the Houck family! Thank you all, and you can see the Disney photos on our Flickr feed!
If you are ever in the Anahiem area and need a great place to connect with an AWESOME children’s ministry facility, be sure to check out The Rock, only a few minutes from Walt Disney World!
It had been a little over a year since we last visited Southern California, so the months of April and May have felt a little like a reunion. In the next few posts, we’ll be bringing you a few of the highlights!
Our first time to stop at Moorepark, Grace Harvest was hosting Pastor Emmanuel Sackey, our partner and Pastor from Somanya, Ghana, Africa. We haven’t seen Pastor Sackey in over a year, so it was great to reconnect and have time to refresh vision with him! Watch for some exciting things coming soon connected to Pastor Sackey, Share5, and Revival Harvest Ministries.
Catalyst West Coast II – Irvine, CA
Back for it’s second year at Mariner’s Church in Irvine, CA, the crew of Catalyst West put on another great conference. Amy spent a good portion of her time with the Land Of a Thousand Hills Coffee crew, and I volunteered with the Catalyst team in the resource store. The kids? Well, they were doing one of their favorite things… encouraging people to Drink Coffee Do Good.
We don’t know just yet at what frequency we will be making these podcasts available, but we know that we will be starting to share more content through this format, so we hope you enjoy it and will provide us with your feedback!
This episode of the Share Well Podcast is a message from Chad Houck preached at New Heart Foursquare Church in Simi Valley on Mother’s Day, 2010. The subject was the 23rd Psalm, focusing in on how important it is for us to remember the moments in our lives where God has truely made Himself real to us. We hope you enjoy listening!
The following is a portion of a full blog entry recently written as part of my regular contribution over at GivMusic.com. To see the full article, click here!
Beyond the Bulletproof Glass
May 10, 2010
I was recently reading a blog post from a gentleman named Lee Bezotte. He was describing an experience that he recently had (with his six year old son in tow) that regretfully is both symbolic of a growing tendency in our society and an unfortunate consequence of our own insecurities combined with a slightly skewed view of reality.
In his post, he mentioned visiting a handful of churches in his community on a weekday with the intent of inviting the pastors and staff to a workshop on social media. Stepping out of the social web space and into the physical world, he was shocked at how inaccessible these churches really were. Some were locked down and empty mid-week, with nary a person to be found. The most poignant, however, was the church that had grown so large, so popular, and possibly so controversial in its community that the staff “greeted” them… from behind a wall of bulletproof glass. …read more
Last night, while you and I were sleeping, something amazing was happening across the border in Mexico. YOUR money was hard at work. That’s right. Money from you, our donors, by way of the Share5 Fund, has been working day and night, around the world, bringing opportunity and hope to those who are less fortunate than ourselves. I recently received this update from a loan that YOU helped fund.
Elizabeth Anleu Rodas is a member of Los Pensamientos development group which received a Kiva loan of 65,000 pesos on 21 September 2009. Development groups are groups of more than 10 people which have a bank account and meet weekly or fortnightly to make their repayments. They have a representative and a governing committee. Los Pensamientos group are currently repaying their loan.
Elizabeth works selling fragrances and cosmetics and requested a loan of 1,000 pesos to buy more products and to repay a debt for products that she had already bought. Thanks to this loan Elizabeth has paid off much of her debt, she has purchased new products and she has made a small proft which she used to buy new sneakers for her grandchildren.
When you support Share5, you are supporting hard working women like her not only in Mexico, but also in Cambodia, Burundi, Rwanda, Ghana, Thailand, and the many other places that Share5 has made loans through the Share5 Fund. AND… because we carefully look to make our loans through specific Christian organizations that provide the loans in the field, we know that the Gospel is being offered to address not only physical poverty, but eternal spiritual poverty as well. Its a beautiful thing. Its TEAMWORK in action.
So, thank you for changing lives… while you were sleeping!
It was one of those amazing, interesting, wonderful, miserable days today. The kind where you go through some things that were not of themselves the most pleasant, but in the end, come out a better person. This morning I woke up committed to go a day without shoes. I made the commitment over a month ago, and we were going to do a walk with some students in downtown Boise to kind of anchor our day.
When morning arrived, I walked out my door to 44 degree weather, winds, and rain. Not exactly the weather picture I had in mind. Later, as the weather got worse, I wondered if the school would let their kids still participate. Fortunately they did.
To wrap up the day, I had a shareholders meeting for the company that I used to work for. To really ice the cake, my wife and I ended up walking into a room full of suits 10 mins. late, baby in hand, and barefoot. I’ll admit I thought twice about donning my shoes for that moment… but we didn’t.
What we realized is that our convictions and our actions only gain integrity when we are willing to stick with them when it is inconvenient. Otherwise, we’re little more than fair-weather fakes. Thanks to the kids in the rain that helped me see a better part of humanity. Lesson learned.
The TOMS One Day Without Shoes march in Boise, ID with the students of Foothills School of Boise. By marching to the State Capitol in 44 degree rain and wind, these young people were helping to raise awareness for those worldwide who go without shoes every day.
NOTE: We know that several families follow this blog. Some material in this blog post, while still clean, is outside the normal scope of the typical “PG rated” conversations found here. Parents are encouraged to first read this post and decide for themselves if it is appropriate for their family at this time. Thank you!
LIMIT: noun – a: something that bounds, restrains, or confines b : the utmost extent
Yesterday was a hard day for me. Not the “I had a bad night sleep” kind of hard day. Not the “Life sure would be nice if I didn’t have to deal with that person” kind of hard day. (though I’ve had both!) It was one of those days where something in a conversation first made me aware of, and then slammed me up against the wall of, a self-imposed moral limitation that I didn’t even know I held.
Perhaps calling it a limitation is a bit strong. Limitations are hard boundaries. In some situations, limitations are absolutely necessary. Take the speed limit for example; or the limit on the amount of a certain medication that is safe for you to take. They are set by some (possibly arbitrary) manner of logic or research with the intent of keeping us safe.
Sometimes, however, I think “limits” can be a pansy way for us to not have to face up to our own PREFERENCES. That is what I ran head into and wrestled with yesterday. In fact, it continued all the way until this morning when I decided that my limit was really not a limit at all, but rather me simply responding inappropriately to something because it made me somehow uncomfortable. I found myself professing internally that “I couldn’t do that. That is just too far.” What I really came to grips with is the fact that this particular situation would have put me into somewhere uncomfortable (for me) in the process of sharing Jesus with another. Since I didn’t KNOW if I could do it comfortably in this particular environment (I know. Who ever said comfort was part of the deal?), it was easier to play the limit card in my head. Fortunately, something inside me couldn’t let it rest.
So what was it that threw me into this tailspin? What took me outside my comfort zone? I was on the phone with a friend who said that she wanted to introduce our organization to another organization she thought we should get to know and possibly even work with. Similar to the Kentucky “Different Miracle” project we participated in back in 2009, they had just recently been to Nevada and completed an “extreme makeover” of their own… on the living quarters of six young ladies that worked for and lived at their place of employment – Nevada’s oldest brothel.
In connection with XXXchurch.com and StripChurch, the folks at Engage The Current, a Florida based college ministry, traveled to Las Vegas to share the love of Jesus with the young ladies working at a historic Ely, NV brothel. While not touching the “working” space, they would spend four days renovating and remodeling the rooms that these young ladies “lived” in. Repressed, cramped spaces with mold on the walls and rust in the toilets became warm, clean reminders that regardless of their situation or occupation, these women were in fact LOVED. With new paint, furniture, carpet, and bedding, the group underscored the LOVED message by both their actions and the “Loved” scripting painted on the walls and embroidered on the pillows. On the new nightstand by each girl’s bed sat a book entitled “Jesus Loves You, This I Know”.
Was it controversial? Yes – but not for the sake of controversy. It was controversial because it crossed perceived limits. Would I have been comfortable in this situation? No. (Before someone makes this argument for me, it is fair to say that for our family, this project was not an place I would want to take my children at this stage of their life because it would likely force a conversation I am not ready to have with them yet. Given that we typically do everything as a family, it would have been totally reasonable for me to decline.) The funny thing, however, is that we were never even ASKED to participate in any way. I merely had a panic reaction the moment I saw what the folks at Current had already done, wrestling with how I would have responded if they HAD asked!
The whole project, however, is not where my issue, or the point of this post, lies. MY OWN LINE OF THINKING is what disturbed me. Instead of looking at why I would not have considered this for a project for my family, I simply and quickly made a snap judgment that it was too far to go. I don’t like that. I find it ugly and prideful. Thanks to those who had the courage to get beyond most people’s comfort zones (possibly even their own) and make it happen. You loved well, and in the process, caused me to have to face up to one of my own shortcomings. Oh, and lest you get the wrong idea, please – we’d love to connect on a project sometime!
Check out the videos of the Brothel Makeover here:
So… limits or preferences. One claims “I can’t” and the other “I won’t because I choose not to.” My hope is that we at least recognize the difference and be honest enough to call our reasons by the right name.
What would you have done? In what situations have you recently jumped to “I can’t” when what you really meant is “I won’t”?
Our first 500 miles as a family of 5 are in the rearview mirror! Yesterday, we loaded the minivan, whined emphatically that it was not the RV, and headed for Portland, OR where Amy and the 3 KIDS will spend the next 9 days with family. As she visits great grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and cousins, I will fly to Phoenix on Saturday for the first of the two UthBuild March builds in Puerto Penasco, MX. When the first home is complete and the keys are turned over to the new homeowner, I will fly back to Portland, rejoin Amy, Bethany, Dillon, and Emily, and with the alphabet order restored, (A, B, C, D, and E… Yes it was intentional) our family of five will have what we hope will be a return drive to Boise as uneventful as the outbound one!
So… if you are a High School friend of Amy’s and in Portland this week, drop her a line! She is in town. If you happen to be in Mexico, come on by the build site and pound a nail or make a sandwich. (less likely, yes, but believe it or not, we do have a woman “coming by” in Mexico that just HAPPENED to read about the builds, contact us, and volunteer!)
Upon our return to Boise, we will be spending around two weeks helping my mom transition from the Elks Rehabilitation Hospital back to home. Then we’ll load the RV and see where God takes us! (Thank you to those who are taking a role in helping make my mother’s transition happen- from meals to overnight stays to visits to phone calls- while we are out of town!) She is continuing to recover well from spinal surgery, and is expected at this point to regain all functions that she lost prior to the surgery. Praise God!
Mother’s Day weekend brought us an opportunity to share with the folks from 
The All New Share Well Podcast is here!
So what was it that threw me into this tailspin? What took me outside my comfort zone? I was on the phone with a friend who said that she wanted to introduce our organization to another organization she thought we should get to know and possibly even work with. Similar to the Kentucky “Different Miracle” project we participated in back in 2009, they had just recently been to Nevada and completed an “extreme makeover” of their own… on the living quarters of six young ladies that worked for and lived at their place of employment – Nevada’s oldest brothel.
Our first 500 miles as a family of 5 are in the rearview mirror! Yesterday, we loaded the minivan, whined emphatically that it was not the RV, and headed for Portland, OR where Amy and the 3 KIDS will spend the next 9 days with family. As she visits great grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and cousins, I will fly to Phoenix on Saturday for the first of the two 
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