Day 1 of 2: 120 for Orphans

I’ve really been looking forward to this ride for sometime.  It’s the first ride, my friend, Rick Whitter has put together for iOrphan Support.  Excellent job…and excellent ministry!…over $13,000 raised to serve orphans in Haiti!  Awesome!

I’ve been looking forward to this ride also as preparation for WillRideforHope.com.  The 6 day-in-a-row 90-mile days on various terrain across Cambodia is going to be a challenge..will probably have the same kind of challenging terrain.  Today,  I got my first real taste for how it’s going to feel.  It’s a big bite to chew no doubt!

Here’s the skinny on today:

1. The ride was roughly 25 miles on pavement.  We averaged around 14-16 mph (on mountain bikes) on this ground…easy ground to cover on a mountain bike at that pace.  On my cyclocross, I should be able to maintain a higher speed in Cambodia.
2. The ride was roughly 35 miles on dirt, rock, and grass. <- that was no joke…jarring!  And, it led to some mechanical troubles on my bike….largely because the bike is fairly new and hasn’t been completely tweaked.  I think I’m back on my bike tomorrow…and off the spare mountain bike.
3. The 7 people I’m riding with and the folks in the support vehicles are amazing!…really salt-of-the-earth type of people…glad to call them friends (including the ones I’ve just met)

If you’d like to follow along with Day 2, you can do so at #ride120 or by following my WillRideForHope Twitter account.  You can also get more information on my Cambodia ride st www.willrideforhope.com as well as the iOrphan Support at www.iorphan.cc.

  

Want to join me on a great trip?!

I’m going on a big trip soon…one of those kinds of trips that make you a little nervous…and pumped at the same time.

And, while you can’t exactly come with me, I’d like to give you a sort of invite.  Check it out: www.willrideforhope.com

In January, I’m riding my bike from Vietnam across Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand.  That’s 540 miles in 6 days.  I’m doing this to raise awareness and money for people we’re serving in Cambodia.  We’re working to give the extremely poor a working chance.  You can find out a little more about the organization we work through here-> People for Care and Learning.

While you can’t go with me, you can help sponsor our work there.  I will ride those 540 miles for you if you’ll make some sort of donation.  You can do so at www.willrideforhope.com.

Soon, we’ll be listing our givers.  You can help me by giving and letting me put your name on that list.  Every name listed will help me personally recruit more givers.  

Any amount makes a difference, especially when you consider that roughly $12 will provide clean drinking water for an entire family for a year. 

$1,000 will relocate a family from a literal garbage dump to a brick mortar house we’ll build and the Cambodian government will deed to the family moving in.

 Your modest sacrifice can make a massive impact for REAL HUMANS living in the most challenging circumstances.

Now, these humanitarian efforts really touch people.  AND, they are the tip of the spear offering Gospel legitimacy to the People for Care and Learning team.  So, go with me!….by sending resources with me.

You can give at www.willrideforhope.com.

Here are some other things you can do to help:

• Spread the word by facebook “liking”www.willrideforhope.com
• Follow @willrideforhope on twitter.
• Forward this email to your friends!

So far, we have well over 1,000 Twitter followers.  Help us get out there a little more.  Together, we can do some cool stuff…there’s more than enough room for us all on my bike.  

Thanks in advance for your generosity!

 

Pastor Travis Johnson - lead pastor, life pointe church

 

Catalyst Conference 2011 – Dr. Cornel West

Dr. Cornel West, professor, civil rights activist, socialist, and actor (Matrix) spoke at Catalyst.  I’m not a Cornel West fan as it pertains to his political ideology.  I’m not really into socialism.  HOWEVER, Dr. West absolutely captivating in his interview.  He is an effective communicator with some really great things to say.  Two ideas stood out so loudly that they are the only two things I want to share here:

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1. “I am a Christian with gangster proclivities.” I used to do those things. Now I don’t…but, I still wrestle with it.

2. “A hatred for Xenophobia isn’t the same as love for everyday people.”

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Maybe, it’s just me.  But, I find it easy to be “against.” It’s much more challenging to be “for.”  God is not satisfied with us being against injustice. He wants us to love.  It caused me to think about how Jesus overturned the money changers in the Temple.  He was against their actions.  But, he did not cause them irrecoverable loss.  While Jesus was against their actions, He was also for their recovery and redemption.

Therein lies the beauty of the revolutionary Jesus.  He not only rises up against.  But, He is so FOR that He lays down His life for the very ones who killed Him.  It’s for that reason that Christianity went viral, unstoppable…a movement of against would’ve never made it past the first century.

Catalyst Conference 2011 – Mark Driscoll Takeaways

Mark Driscoll, lead pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA has had a profound impact on me and a number of other young pastors.  While I don’t agree with him on everything (He’s reformed. I’m more Armenian. He’s Complimentarian. I’m not), I respect and am encouraged by his passion for Jesus, the Scriptures, cities, and Gospel mission.

I thoroughly enjoyed his talk about Fear at Catalyst.  My takeaways:

• 40 is the new 80. I’m tired, people!
• Stress manifest in the body…he’s blown out his adrenal glands twice due to stress.
• Luke 12:25
• Fear isn’t always a sin. But, it is an opportunity for sin.
• When you fear someone, you cannot love them.
• We let people take the place of God as a sort of a functional god.
• Prov 25:29
• Who has too much influence on your emotional well-being?
• Is your appetite for praise consuming you?
• Are you committed to people and things that God didn’t call you to?
• You may be very busy but not very holy.
• Fear is vision without hope.
• Fear is not always rational but it is very powerful.
• Fear preaches a false Gospel.
• Fear turns us all into false prophets.
• We predict a future that isn’t coming.
• WHAT IS THE SOLUTION TO FEAR? -> The Bible says, “Fear not. I am present with you.”
• Others who struggled with fear? Adam in Gen 3, Abraham in Gen 15, Isaac in Gen 26, Jacob in Gen 28, Moses in Exodus 34, Elijah in 2 Kings 1, David in the Valley of the Shadow of Death (Psalm 23), Jacob in Isaiah 41, Jeremiah, the weeping prophet im Jeremiah 1, Daniel 9, Haggai 2, Mary (pregnant) in Luke 1, the women at the tomb in Matthew 28…to all of these people, God said, “Fear not, I am with you!”

Catalyst 2011 – Dave Ramsey Takeaways

Bar none, there is no one on TV who makes as much common sense as Dave Ramsey…pure genius…brutal honesty about finances, stewardship and life.  Here are some of my favorites from today’s session:

• In the marketplace, Christians should be “roaring lambs!”
• In order to be present, you have to know that people matter.
• You have to stop in our TRANSACTIONAL CULTURE to be relational!
• People matter.
• Go relational!
• Treat people well…opportunities come through people.
• If you are going to put a fish on the back of it, you better drive it right.
• Excellent people love working in excellent environments.
• Leaders should probably spend double or triple the amount of time they are presently spending on staffing.
• You’re hiring the spouse too…do spousal interviews to weed out the talented people you want to hire who don’t have adequate support form their spouse.
• Slow and steady matters.
• If you don’t have the resources to fund it, maybe that’s God saying you shouldn’t do it.
• When you are growing faster than your money to sustain it, you are growing too fast.
• Do’t advance past your supply lines.
• He who is impulsive exalts folly. -Proverbs 11:29
• Don’t blame your impulsiveness on the Holy Spirit or Jesus.
• Put a spirit of generosity on your ministry.
• Look at your work as an act of worship.
• How to leave a bad job -> -> -> Be so excellent that the competition steals you away.
• If you tell the truth and show up on time, you’re ahead of 80% of the rest.

OTHER PEOPLE’S NOTES:

Tim Schraeder’s copious, super-detailed and overly excellent notes!

Catalyst 2011 – Jim Collins Takeaways

Perhaps the only leadership guys I enjoy more than Jim Collins are Ken Blanchard and John Maxwell.  Jim Collins is purely genius though.  His books, Good to Great and How the Mighty Fall have been substantial books in my life.  So, any time I get to pick up some nuggets from him like I did today at Catalyst is a real treat!

Here are my takeaways:

• Greatness is not the sole result of circumstance but also a direct result of conscious decision.
• Try to change every “what” question into a “who” question.
• Your strategy for climbing a mountain isn’t nearly as important as who your climbing partner is.
• Darwin Smith, CEO of Kimberly Clark: “I was just trying to become prepared for the job.”
• It isn’t about personality. It’s about humility. <-leadership begins here.
• But, humility combined with will power is the essence of where leadership begins.
• Bad decisions taken with good intentions are still bad decisions.
• Never grow beyond your ability to preserve your culture! -Southwest Airlines
• Fanatic Discipline is discipline on the tough days to move ahead AND discipline on the good days not to overreach.
• Herb Kelleher, CEO of Southwest Airlines: “We’re so paranoid that we’ve predicted 11 of the last 3 recessions!”
• The only mistakes we learn from are the ones we survive.
• The signature of mediocrity is chronic inconsistency.

OTHER NOTES:

My top 10 takeaways from Jim Collins’ book, “Good to Great.”

Others’ Notes from Jim Collins at Catalyst 2011:

Ron Edmonson on Jim Collins’ Talk at Catalyst

Brian Dodd on Jim Collins’ Talk at Catalyst

Tim Schraeder on Jim Collins’ Talk at Catalyst

Catalyst 2011 – Andy Stanley Takeaways

Andy Stanley, senior pastor of North Point Church in Atlanta, GA opened Catalyst 2011.  He’s an exceptional leader/communicator. He shared about accessibility, success, engagement, and being present…very good stuff as always.  Here are a few thoughts that stood out to me:

• The more successful you are, the less accessible you become (whether you like it or not).
• You can’t be fully present with more than a few people.
• As you wrestle with the reality of not being able to engage with everyone who needs engagement, you ought not to stop engaging altogether.  Instead, “Do fo one what you wish you could do for everyone.”
• Don’t be fair. Be engaged.
• Go deep rather than wide. (relationally)
• Don’t be involved everywhere. Be involved somewhere.
• When you do for one what you wish you could do for everyone, you usually end up impacting more than just the one.