On Monday, Janet and I had the privilege and challenge to leave Jake, our oldest son, at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, MI. Its the day you pray for, you hope for, and you dread. He is an incredible young man and I know that God has distinct plans for his life and over the next four years he will discover so many things. What made leaving much easier, was he is reconnecting with four other gifted young men who he had grown up with in Chicagoland.
What a joy it will be to see how these guys get mobilized to change the world with the Jesus mission. Here is a picture of the five amigos.
As we were driving away from Cornerstone, our son Mitch was having his first JV football game. I was getting consistent text updates from a friend at the game, and then suddenly my phone rings. As I answer he yells, Mitch just scored a touchdown. I ask, how did that happen, and he proceeds to tell me how this 6'2" 200lb lineman picked a tipped ball out of the air and ran 65 yards for a score. Definitely a story to tell for the ages. Sad we missed it, but another friend took 10 pics of the graceful run. Here is my favorite.
I could not be more proud of my sons and who they are becoming.
This past weekend was one of those defining moments in the life of Restore Community Church. As we announced that God is leading us to GO to Liberty to start a new location of Restore, there was a sense of excitement and anticipation. Hundreds of people responded with a commitment to Pray for this launch. Many responded with a desire to Stay to Go and increase their impact at Park Hill, and what a joy it was to get the total that 64 people so far have committed to be part of the launch team and Go to Liberty. That is AWESOME!! To top it off, Nate and Jill Williams were celebrated as they take this step of faith to lead this new campus. And this week many people have begun to share their GO journey. Check them out here!!!
Here is a testimony of Tracy St. John's GO journey.
Last night nearly 100 Restore attenders walked the streets of 13 neighborhoods in the Northland of Kansas City and in Liberty. Our Replenish objective was to partner with the community to help under resourced families in the Park Hill and Liberty school districts get some school supplies for school when it starts in August.
As I walked the neighborhood with my youngest daughter, Judiann, it was so fun to talk with people and invite them into this adventure of generosity. People were genuinely excited to help out and very happy were helping them take this initiative.
I could not be more inspired by the people who call Restore their church home.
At Restore we are in the middle of a series called "Renegade Joy". We are taking an indepth look at the book of Philippians. We are challenging everyone who attends Restore to read through the book of Philippians five times this week.
I began the challenge yesterday and decided I am going to read Phillipians through the lens of five different biblical translations or paraphrases (ESV, NIV, NLT, The Voice, The Message). I am very excited about this challenge.
Will you join me?
