I love creative thinking, though most of the time, I don’t feel very creative. God, the Creator, created us in His image, and thus, gifted us with creativity. The video below is an example of what can happen if we use .000000000000000000000001% of the creativity God gave us. It blew my mind on many levels – the collaboration, the video editing, and just the overall creative process behind making it. Watch and be amazed.
If you went to Catalyst Conference this year or know someone who did, you heard about the “Jimmy story”.
Jimmy was a sponsored child through Compassion International years ago, and he is now studying at Moody Bible Institute. He plans to be a missionary and wants to be a blessing to people in his country in the same way that he was blessed through Compassion.
Jimmy told his story on the main stage at Catalyst. I sat there and listened to the details of how he lost his family members one by one, many to starvation. His mother found out about Compassion, and eventually, Jimmy was sponsored by a man from Canada. He pulled out a letter from the man and read it to the crowd. He talked about how that letter pointed to Christ and that eventually it was one of the components God used to draw him to salvation. Jimmy was grateful to that man. His simple monthly gift changed Jimmy’s life forever.
Up until this point, Jimmy never met his sponsor. The guys at Catalyst changed all that… The video below is the surprise moment that emotionally and spiritually ROCKED everyone in the auditorium. All of the CPC staff guys were crying like babies – me included.
Why was it so emotional and powerful? Because it pointed to Jesus. It was a picture of heaven. So many people have gone before us and paved the way for our spiritual blessings, and we may never meet them on this side of glory.
This moment was a reminder to me that “I stand on the shoulders of giants”. I am extremely grateful for those giants – both the living and the dead. They’ve made me the man I am today. They were faithful to the gospel and they challenge me to do the same.
Watch the video. You’ll see Jimmy grasp the giant’s shoulders he’s been standing on for years. (Jimmy starts his story at around 3 1/2 minutes into the video)
It’s been a while since I’ve posted a good, hearty Friday Funny, but this was too good to pass up. It’s from the online news parody called “The Onion”.
My favorite part of this video is when they unveil the “Chalupa Fresco” which actually helps fight global warming. Al Gore would be so proud.
Here is the recap video from the trip. It is set to a wonderful song by Brazilian worship leader Heloisa Rosa called “Clamarei Teu Santo Nome”, which means “I will proclaim Your holy name”… A very fitting song to recap this trip.
If I had to summarize this trip in one word, that word would be synergy:
syn⋅er⋅gy [sin-er-jee] – the working together of two (or more) things to produce an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects.
Our team had a little bit of everything thrown at them on this trip. On the ministry end, they had to sing, share testimonies, share the gospel in a language they didn’t know, do mime-skits that were pretty challenging to learn, and anything else that was asked of them, often at the drop of a hat.
On the work end, it was just as difficult and required as much flexibility. The guys had to haul cinder blocks, sand, cement bags, and tiles. Then they actually mixed the cement and hauled/poured it. The ladies had to strip old varnish, sand, and re-varnish doors. They also sanded and painted many other areas around Haven of Hope.
In addition to that, the art team that did the mural at the school entrance had to work very expeditiously to get it done. That included figuring out the dimensions, doing the scale drawings, and then doing the actual painting.
As I look back on this trip, the word synergy really sums it up. With everything thrown at us, and with 17 of 23 people getting sick, we could have whined and complained and taken it easy. But that is the opposite of what we did. Everyone put in 110% to get everything done. Our team realized that what we were doing in Brazil was much bigger than Haven of Hope or IBABI – it was about the Kingdom of God! Every aspect of the trip modeled a godly, Christ-centered synergy.
In our training: synergy.
In our work: synergy.
In our proclamation of the gospel: synergy.
In our worship and devotion: synergy.
I pray that future Center Point missions teams experience the level of camaraderie that we had.
 | Alex Brooks on Life Changing Moment @ Catalys… |
 | Jeff Prosser on Life Changing Moment @ Catalys… |
 | Russ and Diane on Brazil Update #4 |
 | Alex Andreato on about todd thomas |
 | Jeremy & Shawna … on Final Thoughts On Brazil … |
