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Tanita

Wow, what a trip this has been.  My brain is overloaded and my heart is overwhelmed. Yet at the same time, I have a huge amount of hope and encouragement as I’ve witnessed God healing and restoring hearts in Uganda.

Case in point: TANITA.

Tanita is 14 years old and has a fascinating story.

In 2002, Tanita’s father died.  Shortly after his death, Tanita began experiencing unusual, physical symptoms which eventually led to her being admitted into a hospital where she ultimately tested positive for HIV.

Today, we had the privilege of meeting Tanita and hearing her story on our visit to the Luwero Child Development Center. 

Hearing Tanita’s story was tough.  She cried as she began to share about her father and her disease. 

So did we. 

And yet, beneath the surface of all the pain and sadness was an amazing amount of hope, determination, and thanksgiving for how God is working in her life through the ministry of Compassion International. 

Here’s a part of Tanita’s story in her own words:

“I as admitted into hospitals so much when our mother was not having money.  Because she was not having a job.  Some church people came to our home and they were told my story.  So I was registered at the Luwero Child Development Center in Compassion.  And I thank God for that. 

One day in a meeting at the hospital, I heard children when they were talking about HIV/A with doctors.  Our doctors told us that HIV does not kill you if you take your drugs and in time.  I started drugs in 2005.  I have seven others like me here in this project.  We thank LCDC for helping us. Because they give us food, transport to hospital, and treatment. 

I thank God for my beautiful skin, my good nails, my nice hair, my good appetite and my whole life.  On behalf of my fellow HIV positive children in this project, I want to thank you sponsors for all the support you give us which is helping us to have a good, healthy life.”

Tanita is one of 8 children at this particular project who has tested positive and is being treated for HIV.  Altogether, they are currently helping 56 people impacted by the disease - children, caregivers, and siblings.  And overall, the project currently has 238 children enrolled as Compassion helps with education support, shelter renovations, Bible distribution, food relief, income generating projects, and more.

I’m seriously blown away by Compassion’s work here in Uganda.  More on that later.  But if you currently sponsor a child through Compassion, you need to know that EVERY dime you give makes a difference.  And every letter you write, inspires and empowers.  I've seen it.  And to say I'm impressed would be the understatement of the week.

More later.  I'm exhausted.

Dirty Converse

Compassion International’s mission is to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name. 

Spiritual poverty.  Economic poverty.  Social poverty.  And physical poverty.  

So their reach is to the poorest of the poor.  The poorest neighborhoods and villages - and then to the poorest who live in those places.

That’s where we’ve been today. 

Surrounded by children and moms who are not just poor - but many of whom are also HIV positive and infected with Malaria.  Including several children who, as a result, probably won’t live to be older than two or three years old.

And so now I’m back in my air conditioned hotel room trying to figure out how in the hell to process it all...

...while I stare at my dirty shoes. 

Shoes that cost more than most of these people will make in three or four months.

If they’re lucky.

To be honest, it’s just overwhelming.  Confusing.  And more than anything, it’s a painful reminder that our world, is in fact, broken.

That’s all for now. 

No need to comment words of “encouragement” or promises from the scriptures, or anything else that so many of us want to offer after reading a post like this.  I know all that.  And I know there’s hope.  I’ve seen a good bit of it today - even in the midst of the mess.

But for now, I just need to feel it. 

Then after that.....I’ll go clean my shoes and blog some hope.

The Faces of Mawangala

Yesterday we had the privilege of spending a day at the Mawangala Child Development Center located 13km northwest of Iganga, Uganda.  And let me tell you......this is quite a place. 

It’s home to approximately 50,000 residents whose homes are (typically) constructed of dirt floors, adobe walls, and if they’re lucky - tin roofs.  HIV/AIDS, typhoid, malaria, and trachoma are just a few of the common health challenges that these children and families are threatened by.  But the good news is that Compassion has been working there for a little under a year now and already lives are being transformed. 

One of Compassion’s team members mentioned that there is a very high likelihood that we were, in fact, the very first "white people" that most of these children had ever seen before. 

Hard to imagine, isn’t it? 

But here’s what was amazing...  While the visit from the “white men” was obviously a really big deal to the kids and the families, what they have no idea of is how much bigger of a deal it was to me and everyone else on our team to just simply have the privilege of hugging and singing...and laughing....and loving these beautiful, beautiful children who have forever touched our hearts. 

Here are some of the faces of Mawangala:
(Click for larger images)

Jet Lagged in Kampala

Saturday, May 23
2:35am Uganda Time
(6:36pm, Friday, Chicago Time)

After 18+ hours spread out on three different flights, we have finally made it Uganda’s capital city of Kampala!  Loved having the windows down on the ride to our hotel and just taking in the smells, the sounds, the people, the energy.  Haven't had a chance to see much yet, but excited for what's ahead tomorrow and over the next few days.

Here are a few enlightened observations my flight over:

• Simply Red - really like these guys. Enjoyed a couple hours of their music during the flight.  Courtesy of KLM.  Too bad to hear that they are breaking up this year. 
• Fantasy Island - Again, thanks KLM.  Never realized how horrible the acting was on this show, but also didn't realize how much I've missed it.  Thinking a new 2010 version??
• The Libyan Desert - don't know much about it, but based on the looks of it from 30,000 feet up in the air, this does NOT look like a place I'd ever want to be stranded in.
• Mike Jones - Doesn't think I'm nearly as funny after being on a plane with me for that many hours.
• Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam - Loved the vibe.  Hoping to sneak away to see the city for an hour or two on my way back home.

Signing off friends.  Busy day tomorrow.  G'nite.

Goin' to Uganda!

Chicago to Atlanta.
Atlanta to Amsterdam.
Amsterdam to Uganda.

The journey begins tomorrow!

Here's the 411 on the trip...

Received an exciting invitation a few months ago from our friends at Compassion International to go to Uganda and experience their work there first hand.  Since The Orchard already has a partnership started in Uganda, we felt like this would be a great opportunity to explore how we might be able to expand our global reach.

(Btw - if you're not familiar with Compassion, you need to be.  They are making a huge impact in places all over the world.  In fact, they're currently helping over a MILLION children in over 25 countries.  Amazing, isn't it?)

So....keep your eye out on the blog over the next several days.  I'm planning to post photos, maybe a video or two, and of course I'll probably Twitter now and then as well.  Also excited to have "the real" Mike Jones accompanying me on this trip! 

Uganda is eight hours ahead of Chicago time, so we should be arriving in Kampala (the capital city) sometime around noon (CST) on Friday, May 22.

LINKAGE:
Learn more about Uganda here.
See a map of Uganda here.
Learn more about Compassion International here.
Follow my Twitter updates here.
Follow Mike Jones Twitter updates here.

Over and out.

Story

A few months ago, my friend Ben Arment called me with an idea about creating a first-of-its-kind experience for writers, communicators, artists, pastors, and church leaders.  The idea was to design a conference where people could learn from some of the most effective communicators of the Gospel today. 

But the best part was that Ben wanted the conference to happen in or around Chicago.  So we started talking venues...and one thing led to another.....which eventually landed the project called "Story" at two incredible venues in the Chicago area:

The Paramount Theatre and The Orchard - both in Aurora!  (For those of you who don't know, The Orchard is the church community where I serve as Lead Pastor.)

So of course, I'm excited!  But the thing that I'm most excited about is the idea and heart behind this 2 day event.  I believe that the greatest story - the story of the Gospel - is a story that deserves to be communicated in the most creative, engaging, and beautiful way possible.  And that's what Story is going to be all about.

Enough rambling...  Let me give you a few details:

Dates: October 28th & 29th

Where: Paramount Theatre (28th) and The Orchard (29th) - both in Aurora (40 miles west of Chicago).

Main Speakers (28th): Dave Gibbons, Don Miller, Ed Young, Nancy Beach, Stacy Spencer, Chris Seay, and Mike Foster

How's that for diversity!?  WOW.

That's a lot to digest and this post is getting too be long, so I'm going to save the workshop speakers for another post.  But it is definitely going to be an amazing group of people who are coming together in October. 

Go to the Story website now. 

And oh yeah - they are also giving away a trip to C.S. Lewis' home in Oxford, England!

2009 One Prayer!

We had a blast a couple weeks ago taping my talk for this year's One Prayer series!  In case you're not  familiar with it, One Prayer is a global movement of churches joining together to make a lasting difference in our world.  And get this - so far, there are:

1,163 Churches with a total attendance of 639,364!

How amazing is that?!  And I'm telling you...I honestly believe that the church is at it's BEST when it works together to accomplish great things.  It's so beautiful!

A few details:

The global launch is happening on June 6th/7th, 2009.  We are beginning ours a week earlier at The Orchard.  So for us, it will begin the weekend of May 31st/June 1st. 

We loved being a part of One Prayer last year and of course I immediately regretted that I had not taped a talk for it.  So this year we decided to go for it and I'm so glad we did!  We had a FUN TIME taping it and the final edit turned out really, really great!  Our team did an awesome job!

The common One Prayer theme this year is, "God is..." and my specific title is:

"God is......READY."

We're excited and looking forward to sharing and learning from other churches all across America and around the world.  And if you're a pastor, it's not too late to be involved.  You can go here to learn more.

By the way, if you are interested in using my teaching in your church this year and would like us to record a personalized intro, let us know and we'd love to do that for you!

Orlando...Austin...Atlanta.....and next, Uganda.

Ok, I'm diving back in to the blog.  It's been way too long.  My lame excuse: I've been running 200MPH since a few weeks before Easter with writing, travel, etc... and blogging just hasn't been that high on my priority list.  Sorry faithful folks.

So anyway...  Rather than try to knock out a bunch of amazing blog posts, I thought I'd throw out a few random thoughts of what's been happening over these past few weeks.  Here we go:

• Easter.  This year's Easter weekend The Orchard was a record-breaking weekend!  Our teams did an amazing job and I think my head is still spinning after a HUGELY successful Helicopter Easter Egg Drop.  All I can say is WOW.  If you missed the video review, click here.
  
  
• Orlando.  Had a great time at Exponential in Orlando.  Exponential is sort of a like a big family reunion (but without the weird uncle and the funky potato salad).  This is actually the largest church planting conference in North America and one that I would definitely encourage all church planters to attend in 2010.  Had fun teaching a session with Gary Lamb (did he really say "wanker"??) and then participating in some great conversations in the Exponential Lounge with guys like Erwin McManus, Francis Chan, Dave Ferguson, Craig Groeschel, Matt Chandler, and others. 
  
  
• Austin. After a couple of days home I found myself in the amazing city of Austin, TX to be a part of Q.  Q is one of my favorite gatherings of the year.  It's small and all about influencing and changing culture.  Think TED format.  Loved connecting with a bunch of friends - both new and old.  People like Kem Meyer, Mike Foster, Jeff Shinabarger, Tim Stevens, Alan Hirsch, Kyle Zimmerman, John Burke, Rick McKinley, Chris Seay, Gabe Lyons, Mel McGowan, Charles Lee, and a bunch of other amazing people. Next year, Q will be here - in Chicago!
  
  
• Austin II.  All I can say is - what a cool city.  And with a slogan that's all about keeping it "weird" what do you expect??  Check out a few photos I posted in Facebook.
  
  
• Jackie Huba.  Writer, Author, Speaker, Blogger, Marketing Guru-ess, co-founder of the Society for Word of Mouth.  Forbes calls her work "the word of mouth gospel."  Anyway....  Had a chance to grab lunch with Jackie while in Austin.  That was worth the trip alone.  If you don't follow her twitter you need to. 
  
  
• Atlanta.  Orange.  It's THE premier and the BEST family ministry conference in the flippin' universe.  Loved being a part of this and having the opportunity to share The Orchard's story and some thoughts/ideas on the topic of navigating change with a room full of Lead Pastors and Senior Leaders.  Just wish I could have stuck around for more than a few hours, but was glad to be able to hang with a few of our staff who were attending and introduce them to some killer Korean BBQ. 
  
  
• Uganda.  In a couple of weeks.  More on this later, but looking forward to getting my heart messed up by this trip. 
  
  
• Study.  It's what I should be doing right now.  So I'm done.  Hopefully back in the groove of blogging.  We'll see.  Thanks for the encouragement folks.