Back in January of 2009, we were looking for somewhere to do a little work in exchange for somewhere to park the RV for a few weeks while we began work on a book.  Today, almost a year and a half later, that book proof was shipped to the same place it began, and we are back where we started – geographically speaking.

Those of you who have been following for a while may remember the Chicken Coup project from 2009 in Lake Elsinore.  The location is called Rancho De La Paz, or “the ranch of peace”.  It is a re-entry point for YWAM missionaries and a retreat for pastors and full time ministers that need a little “down time.”  Run by the Caruso family, the ranch has a few llamas, a dog, a cat, a bunch of chickens, and some ducks.  The farm animals give people from the city something to look at that calms them, while giving rural missionaries something “familiar” as they handle re-entry into American society.

Last year we built the foundation for a new chicken coup.  This year, we dug some holes for some trees, but we also got to paint the trim on the chicken coup. I finished with a full day driving a John Deere 210 Loader moving over 30 loads of horse manure…  (view the full Lake Elsinore photo set on Flickr)

But back to my thought…

While we were painting, I thought about the fact that even though we weren’t there, the progress on the ranch continued.  Multiple other volunteers had helped with construction projects, repainted fences, patched holes and did countless other things.  Then we got to return and play a part again.

It makes me remember how I came back to my relationship with Jesus 10 years ago.  Several people along the way, each doing their small or large part.  Some laid a foundation.  Some built on it.  Others have helped dress up the project along the way.  Every one of them played a critical part.

Thank you for everyone who has done a little work on ME.  My life today is the fruit of YOUR labor.

Blessings from California, and now… On to Arizona!

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!

Share Well With Others – Unpacking the Proof! from Share5 by WorldWins on Vimeo.

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!

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!

View photos from Easter to Catalyst West at our Flickr Photostream

Grace Harvest Church – Moorepark, CA

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.

Emily and Dillon rocking with Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee from Share5 by WorldWins on Vimeo.

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:

Video #1 – The vision and the rooms

Video #2 – The Makeover

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”?

Amy working on Stucco, Mexico House 2, March 2009

This first home will go to Beatriz Meneses and her 5 children and 2 grandchildren, who are presently living under a tarp between two adjacent walls. Things are still a little up in the air as to whether we will build a full double version of our typical house, or just complete a portion of what would eventually be their final house, just to get them in.  Regardless, it is not too late to participate financially to help make this dream a reality.  Please, make your contribution today and help us put a family in a home and off the street.

To learn more about UthBuild, how you can participate in one of our future builds, or to find out about bringing a group of your own to build a home in Mexico, visit our UthBuild page and then drop us a line!

You undoubtably ask how on earth can a person do all of these things before breakfast?  The secret lies below the frothy surface of my morning’s Double Bohoro Bohoro Latte (with a touch of vanilla.)  “Bohoro Bohoro” – Translated it means “Slowly, Slowly.”  It is the phrase that a priest will use to describe how reconciliation between a Hutu and their Tutsi countrymen will happen, and it is the name on the bag of these roasted seeds of redemption from Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee that I hold in my hand.  I’ll let them tell their story.

The coffee beans in this bag traveled more than 8,000 miles just to make it into your cup. Each one was hand picked on a Rwandan farm, tenderly cared for along a journey down a bumpy dirt road on a coffee bicycle, and eventually traveled across the whitecaps of the Atlantic Ocean to make it to Roswell, Georgia, where they are roasted in small batches by an Artisan roaster for what will undoubtedly be one of the best cups of coffee you ever taste. But the geographic distance is not what makes this coffee amazing. The longitude and latitude, although exotic, are not where the miracle lies.

The true distance of these beans, the real journey, is that they traveled a road of forgiveness. These beans represent reconciliation. These beans represent grace and hope for a people torn apart by violence. In the same way you come together with friends over a cup of coffee, farmers torn apart by genocide in Rwanda are coming together in their coffee-growing community. Great healing is taking place. For Hutus and Tutsis, orphans and mothers, reconciliation is becoming 3D. Grace is alive.

And with these beans, with each bag, up to $3 travels back into the Rwandan economy providing a just, Living Wage for each farmer. That is the distance these beans traveled to make it here. From hurt to hope. From loss to life. From Rwanda to you.  (- from the bag label on my Bohoro Bohoro Espresso, Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee Company.  Written by John Acuff)

So… can your coffee do that?

Find out more and start your next morning differently at DrinkCoffeeDoGood.com

He Learned Their Names

Now I lay me down to sleep.
My bed will be the cold hard street.
I am not here because of choice.
I’ve lost my face.  I’ve lost my voice.
I bow my head, chained down by shame.
Then along came one who learned my name.

He took my hand and helped me up.
He filled my soul when he filled my cup.
He asked me what I’d like to say
To those who’d never looked my way.
He didn’t ask who was to blame,
He just listened, yet I’m not the same.

I’m not invisible any longer.
My struggles, my story, have made me stronger.
I’m a father, a mother, a child, a wife
A husband, a daughter, a son… a life.
A once smoldering ash is now a flame.
All because he learned my name.

Read on at GivMusic.com, and please, learn the names behind the stories.

I am currently preparing a three part series on homelessness that we will roll out on this blog in the days leading up to Christmas. The posts were originally written as guest blogger posts for another organization, so once they roll them out, we will link to them from here.

Stay tuned, and Merry Christmas. To steal a line from the 12 Days challenge, may you find yourself being human to another human being this Christmas!

Love as Jesus loved. Live as Jesus lived. Share Well With Others.

(originally written for the Nov 2009 e-bulletin of Bethany Community Church in Tempe, AZ )

Birthed at Bethany – The UthBuild Story

If you were to visit the High School Ministries room at Bethany Community Church on one specific night just over a year ago, you would likely have not recognized that something new was being birthed.  You probably would have easily mistaken it for a teen event where the lights were flashing and the music was just a bit too loud.  Like most, you could have easily missed that God was, in the midst of the noise and the strobing lights, forming a new friendship and a new partnership that is today changing the lives of not only our teens, but also the lives and the futures of families across the border in Mexico as well.

It was on that night in November, during a Bethany HSM concert event, that HSM Pastor David Robinson met the Houck family and Share5.org.  Traveling with the concert tour, the Houck’s nonprofit provided the ministry support for the bands. Pastor Robinson took the time to share his heart for transforming and building youth with Chad Houck prior to the concert, and by the end of the night, the two had agreed to join forces in Mexico when HSM went on their annual missions building trip in March.

March arrived, and the Houck’s returned to Bethany in their 34’ motorhome, their home on wheels for their now fulltime mobile ministry work.  They served as the camp speakers for the two weeks of building in Mexico, and upon their return, sat down for another heart to heart with Pastor Dave.  This time, the offer was to help create a new opportunity that would expand the ministry that had begun at Bethany by making it available to youth nationwide.  With the blessing of Bethany’s Senior Pastor, UthBuild was born as a full-fledged ministry division of Share5’s parent 501c3 organization, World Wins International.

This past October, for the first time under the UthBuild banner, several youth from Bethany’s High School Ministry stood before the congregation.  They were sent out with blessings and prayer as they set their sites on Puerto Peñasco, MX for their 5 day Fall Break building project.  The goal:  to build a home for a homeless family in only 4 days, using nothing but hand tools and their own willing sacrifice.

By the end of the four building days those fortunate enough to be involved had the opportunity to witness the miraculous power and capacity of God manifest through their very hands.  A group of 18 non-professional, non-experienced high school  “builders” not only constructed a home for a family, but they went over 200% above and beyond.   By joining the new house to an existing structure already on the property, the team was able to create a home with 2.5 times the living space of the original plan.  Where the plans called for installing 250 square feet of roofing, they installed over 800 giving the entire structure a new sealed roof.  Though a typical build only involves 60 linear feet of stucco, they applied in excess of 100 feet making the full home water-tight.

They pushed themselves harder than they believed possible, and in the end, they pulled off nothing short of a miracle.  A group of people that shouldn’t have been able to do so gave a house that shouldn’t have been finished to a grateful family whose tears flowed as freely as their Spanish words of appreciation and praise to God.

Be sure to check out the photos below of the UthBuild October 2009 Build.  You can find this article and more on the Share5 Blog, where you can follow the Houck family and the rest of the things happening on the Share5 Tour until they return to Bethany for the next UthBuild trip in March of 2010!  Thank you for your continued support of Bethany High School Ministries, and watch for more here from UthBuild, the new national ministry making international impact, birthed right here at Bethany Community Church.

You can support UthBuild directly here, or contact Pastor Dave Robinson to find out more about how you can be part of our next trip to Mexico!

World Wins would like to thank Bethany Community Church for the opportunity to contribute the UthBuild story to their monthly newsletter!