Pulpit Swap

Ron Clark, minister at the Metro Church of Christ has agreed to switch pulpits with me for a Sunday. So on this day, April 10, 2005, he will be preaching to the PUMPchurch and I will be preaching to Metro. It's kind of a fun thing to do and it gives us both a chance to share what's going on in the churches we serve. Ron does a lot of work with domestic abuse awareness and abuse awareness in the church.

A Will - Good Stewardship

I have had a personal constitution for quite awhile now, and it still gets edited, but the longer I have been working with it, the less I've found that needs to be changed. I recently added one simple sentence to my "Stewardship" value. "I have a will." I've realized how not having a will promises to increase the pain of my living loved ones in the event that I die. Dying is a forgone conclusion; it's not a matter of if, only of when. And in the horrible and unlikely circumstance that Kaelea and I should die at the same time? While our kids are young? What a confusing mess for us to leave behind!I like the idea of preparing for my death: life insurance, a will, maybe even plan my funeral and buy my burial plot. Those are all good reminders that I'm not sticking around here.

PUMP Choir Tours Western Oregon!

OK maybe I'm inflating a little. PUMP choir is actually driving from Portland to Klamath Falls (eg. touring western Oregon) to perform at a fundraising event for a private adoption agency. The are having a fundraising banquet and we are the "headliners." We leave today and get back tomorrow night...so it's really short tour, but you gotta get what you can get. Kaelea and I looking forward to it because we are leaving our children at home with the grandparents. WooHoo!

Musicians!

Tuesday morning Kaelea's sister Tara was over to babysit the kids while Kaelea was cleaning someone's house. I was on my way out; Tara and all the kids were playing musical instruments: guitar, ukelele, piano, "drums," and Tara had her trumpet at our place. The kids were having a blast and it just reminded me how important music is, not just to me but to our whole family. We are all singing, all of the time. SaiSai picked up the trumpet, and at four years old he was blowing clear notes with nice tones. He doesn't have the dexterity yet for fingering, but hey, it won't be long!

PUMP Vision Banquet 2005

The Portland Urban Ministry Project is pleased to announce that we will be hosting the second annual PUMP Vision Banquet on Saturday, May 14th, 2005. Live entertainment, guest speakers and special presentations will blend together to share PUMP’s compelling vision for future ministry.PUMP is in its sixth year of ministry in Portland’s inner city community. Our vision is to nurture a generation of urban Christians. To fulfill this God-sized vision in the inner city requires many partners. Will you partner with PUMP to nurture this generation of children and families? We pray and hope to raise $100,000 in pledges and gifts on the evening of the banquet. To help us toward this goal we need 41 table hosts and 41 table sponsors. A host is a person who agrees to fill a table with ten of their own guests. A sponsor is a person or organization that helps pre-pay the cost of the banquet so that 100% of the funds given on the evening of the banquet will go directly to ministry. You may sponsor one or more tables for $350 per table. All gifts made to PUMP are tax-deductible.If you would like to host and/or sponsor a table email me at ike at pumpchurch.org.

Book Review: Good to Great

Jim Collins and his team of researchers began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. They finally settled on 11--including Fannie Mae, Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo--and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success. Making the transition from good to great doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy.This book was recommended to the staff at PUMP during a strategic consultation. I ate this book in a day. I found their findings and results to be fascinating. Let's be frank, the North American church as an organization is nothing like the first century church. Should it be like a business? No. Church should still have the exact same Spirit as the early church, but the church today is a large organization, maybe we have a few things to learn about how large organization functions with health? I think so.

BlueLineMax Launch

Well it took quite a while to get things just right, but the new BlueLineMax website is finally up. It's fairly unpopulated but as far as I know, everything works. Have a look and let me know what you think. We should be adding some articles from the singers in the coming weeks.

Michal's Doctor Visit

Michal has been experiencing some chronic diarrhea and vomiting for about the last two weeks. We thought it was the flu, but after it lasting that long we just knew something was up. So Thursday we took her to the hospital for a visit to the doctor. We sat in the examining room for over an hour. The doctor walked in listened to her heart, looked in her ears, felt her tummy (all the while asking us questions) and diagnosed the problem as temporary lactos intolerance. Apparently there's a particular bacteria in the digestive tract that handles lactose. When Michal had the flu, she probably lost a lot of that bacteria. It will come back in a few weeks, but she off the cow's fruit for that long. I guess that means none of us will be eating ice cream for a bit.

Open House Ministries

I recently had an opportunity to tour the facility of this ministry, and I was really impressed with their work and philosophy of Gospel. I've included some information from their website below.Essential to our success, is both a high level of support, and a high level of expectation. Any client who enters our shelter is guided by these important ideals. You are not a victim. You have great possibilities. You can stay "a week at a time, for as long as it takes."

If you take responsibility for your problems, we guarantee you will leave with a home and the means to afford it. Our primary purpose is to enable homeless families to regain their independence. We will admit only those families that agree to participate in a program designed to assist them resolve their homeless situation. We will allow them to remain only so long as they continue to make steady progress toward that goal. We recognize that the church community can provide a network of assistance for the homeless, and we encourage participation between both parties, particularly as it relates to the spiritual growth of the client.We believe that God is deeply concerned with redemption, we encourage (without requiring) individuals in each family to consider Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives, and to participate in church attendance and on-site Bible studies provided by local churches.